14 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 22, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Real estate leaders discuss maintaining
mixed-use identity of Long Island City
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @AngelaMatua
Leaders in real estate, business and government
attended the fourth annual LIC
Summit on June 20 to discuss the future
of Long Island City’s growth.
Hosted by the LIC Partnership at the
Museum of the Moving Image, the event
brought together stakeholders to discuss
how to maintain the neighborhood’s
mixed-use identity.
Seth Pinsky, executive vice president of
RXR Realty, said Long Island City is the
“only truly mixed-use neighborhood in
New York City.”
Pinsky was joined on the panel by
Kathryn S. Wylde, president and CEO
of Partnership for New York City; James
Patchett, president and CEO of the NYC
Economic Development Corporation;
and Carlo A. Scissura, president and CEO
of New York Building Congress.
“I live in Brooklyn, and much of
Brooklyn feels like a victim of its own
success and I think you got ahead of
that more than any other community in
the city by getting organized early, planning
early, paying attention to what was
going on,” Wylde said. “So I think we
all owe you LIC Partnership and residents
a lot for that because I think this is
a model for how we can support economic
change and growth in a constructive,
positive way.”
Th e majority of the panel was focused
on how the private sector and government
could work together to foster the
mixed-use character of Long Island City.
Most of the new buildings cropping up
in the neighborhood have been apartments
and condos. According to a recent
report, a record number of rental units
were built in Long Island City from 2010
through 2016, eclipsing other large cities
nationwide that also experienced a spike
in development.
Th e incentives given to developers who
build residential units is partly to blame
for the record rise in residential units and
lack of commercial or retail space, the
panel argued. Patchett pointed out that
two large, city-owned developments will be
leased out to mostly commercial tenants.
A 1.5 million-square-foot, mixed-use
development at 1 Gotham Center will
attract commercial tenants, and two sites
on 44th Drive and Vernon Boulevard that
off er 1.4 million buildable square feet will
also attract developers looking to bring in
commercial offi ce space.
“We’re putting our thumbs to the scale
to encourage more offi ce development
particularly in places like Long Island
City, which are located so close to the core
of Manhattan,” Patchett said.
Developers on the panel also called for
a change in tax policies for those looking
to build commercial, retail or manufacturing.
Th e implementation of 421-a or
Aff ordable New York grants tax breaks to
developers building aff ordable housing,
but there aren’t equivalent programs for
buildings with other uses.
“I think we have to use all of these tools
together,” Patchett said. “If you are bold
enough to build a new offi ce building in
Long Island City, you do receive a tax cut
but we’re still not seeing a lot of new
commercial space without specifi c city
intervention.”
Pinsky argued that to make sure that
Long Island City remains a mixed-use
community, developers must build more,
and must also keep spaces zoned for manufacturing.
“In a city where we have growing
inequality, something that the mayor has
underlined and emphasized, one of the
reasons we have growing inequality is
because we don’t have those pathways to
the middle class that existed in the past.”
He added that manufacturing jobs provide
good wages to people who may not
have a formal education. Pinsky also said
the industrial sector “is what allows the
city to function.”
“If we want to build skyscrapers, the
cement has to come from somewhere,”
he said. “If we want to have restaurants in
Long Island City that everyone from all
over the world wants to come to, the food
has to come from somewhere.”
Changing of the guard at Queens Centers for Progress
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
A Jamaica-based nonprofi t that provides
services and support to children
and adults with developmental disabilities
will soon have a new leader at the
helm.
Charles Houston, who has been with
Queens Centers for Progress (QCP)
since 1981, will retire from his position
as executive director at the end of the
month.
“When I came to QCP, it was partially
because of my predecessor,” Houston
explained. “I just really felt like I really
had a home here. And that feeling continues.”
Houston’s passing the torch to Terri
Ross, who’s currently the QCP director
of adult services.
“Ross knows our programs, the
people in our programs and our staff
very well,” Houston said. “Th e executive
director is really responsible for
the overall day-to-day operations of the
agency ... Ross has done a great job in
the time she has been here to help people
work together.”
Th e agency was fi rst founded around
1950 under a diff erent name to serve
children with cerebral palsy, Houston
explained. From there, the nonprofit
grew, and today serves thousands of
individuals and employs more than 600
staff members.
“We later took a name (QCP) that still
identifi ed us as a Queens-based organization,”
Houston said. “We serve, and continue
to serve, many people, in addition
to children with cerebral palsy.”
Today, QCP off ers children’s services,
adult day and residential services and vocational
opportunities. Its mission is to support
each individual in making the most
of his or her talents, abilities and interests.
“QCP is, I think, really fortunate to
have people who are really committed
to the job and committed to working
together,” Houston said. “When you’ve
got a larger organization, it’s harder …
but I think that QCP has been able to
maintain that focus and, really, everybody
here is committed to making life for
the people who come to us for services as
complete and full as possible.”
To learn more about the organization,
visit their website, www.queenscp.org.
Photos courtesy of QCP
Terri Ross (right) will take over as QCP’s executive director after Charles Houston (left) retires at
the end of June.
Photo by Angela Matua/QNS
Real estate and government leaders discussed the future of Long Island City at the LIC Summit.