4 THE QUEENS COURIER • MAY 17, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Board 7 approves proposal that would
bring Ulta Beauty to College Point
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
Aft er making note of troublesome parking
Missing College
Point teacher
found dead in
upstate New York
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
Th e College Point teacher who was
reported missing over a week ago has
been found dead in upstate New York.
Keith Johnson, 46, who teaches at
P.S. 29 located at 125-10 23rd Ave. and
resides in Kew Gardens, was last seen
at the school in his 2006 gray Hyundai
Elantra at 2:20 p.m. on Saturday, May
4. Law enforcement sources say that
he was reported missing aft er he didn’t
show up for work.
Th e NYPD reported on Saturday
night, May 12, that Johnson’s body had
been located in a wooded area near the
town of Shandaken in Ulster County.
According to WCBS-TV, Johnson’s
vehicle had been located in Schodack
in Rensselaer County, about 50 miles
northwest of where his body was located.
A neighbor of Johnson’s told WCBSTV
that he had seen the teacher leaving
Kew Gardens on May 5, and Johnson
had mentioned that he was going on a
camping trip.
Police say that Johnson has no history
of drugs or mental illness.
No arrests have been made, and the
investigation is ongoing, police said.
Robert Pozarycki contributed to this
report.
Probe continues into deadly Elmhurst house fi re
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/@jenna_bagcal
First responders found the body of a
39-year-old man on Saturday, May 12,
following a two-alarm fi re on Case Street
the previous day that left both fi refi ghters
and residents injured.
Th e man has been identifi ed as Golam
Saroar, a student and immigrant from
Bangladesh, according to WABC.
FDNY personnel searched 40-46
Case St. at 5 p.m. last Saturday aft er
requests from the missing man’s family.
Investigators discovered Saroar, who
seemed unconscious and unresponsive
when they arrived. EMS responded at the
scene and pronounced the man dead.
As Th e Daily News reported, the
Elmhurst home had been illegally subdivided,
with a full apartment created in
the basement and multiple Single Room
Occupancy units created on the fi rst fl oor.
According to the Buildings Department,
the owner of the home received violations
for creating several illegal conversions.
Th e fi re was one of two that happened
within hours of each other; the fi rst fi re
happened on May 11 just aft er 5 a.m.
while another fi re broke out at 11:15
p.m. on May 10 on 71st Street in Jackson
Heights. A family of four were victims of
last Friday’s fi re, and the two young children
were in critical condition.
According to Th e Daily News, 7-yearold
Sharon Basra is breathing on her
own, while her cousin Jasmine Basra, 7,
was expected to be taken off her breathing
tube on Monday.
lot and traffi c conditions in the area,
Community Board 7 voted on Monday night
in favor of an application to bring a new
building to a College Point shopping mall.
Th e board heard a presentation on the
application for the shopping mall at 133rd
Street and 20th Avenue at its monthly
meeting on May 14. Th e advisory body
recommended approval of the developer’s
request to modify its special permit,
which would allow them to construct a
new, one-story building on the premises.
Th e proposal will go before the City
Planning Commission for fi nal approval.
Th e 9,000-square-foot structure at
the southwest corner of the center will
house an Ulta Beauty store. Th e cosmetics
chain has a 10-year lease, with a fi ve-year
option, legal counsel noted. Construction
began on the building late last year.
Th e building and use is as-of-right.
However, due to a special permit issued
to developers by the city in 1989, the
group must seek to modify the existing
site plan in order to accommodate additional
development.
Community Board 7 Vice Chairperson
Chuck Apelian, who delivered the committee
report, said members voiced concerns
about the condition of the shopping
center’s parking lot. Exit and entrance
grades cause vehicles to bottom out, he
noted, and the lot is confi gured in a way
that causes traffi c confusion.
A representative for site operator
College Point Management said the
developers are in the process of making
improvements to the parking lot and exit
and entrances. Th ey are in the process of
re-confi guring and re-striping the parking
lot and installing new traffi c islands,
planting areas and 32 new parking spots
to accommodate the new building.
Apelian said members also expressed a
desire to see left and right hand turn signals
installed at the 20th Avenue intersection,
immediately outside of the entrance
to the shopping center.
While this change would ultimately
have to be instituted by the city’s
Department of Transportation, developers
said they would support Board 7 in
their bid for the traffi c controls.
Th e College Point location would
be Ulta’s third shop in Queens. One is
already operating in the Shops at Atlas
Park in Glendale and another at the Rego
Center on Junction Boulevard.
Petco and ShopRite are the existing tenants
closest to the new building. Staples
vacated its location within the shopping
center on Oct. 7 of last year.
Photo courtesy of the NYPD
Photo by Suzanne Monteverdi/QNS
The construction site for the new Ulta Beauty Store at 20th Avenue
Photo via Google Maps
Twelve people, including eight fi refi ghters, were injured in a two-alarm fi re at this Case Street home
in Elmhurst on May 11.
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