4 The Courier sun • JULY 7, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com Full Rockaway Boardwalk opens after three years of post-Sandy repairs By Charlie Perry cperry@qns.com/@QueensCourier For the first time since the Superstorm Sandy, the full Rockaway Boardwalk has finally opened, just in time for Independence Day. The Parks Department announced on June 29 that Rockaway Beach visitors would be able to travel across a continuous connection spanning 5.5 miles from Beach Ninth to Beach 126th streets starting Saturday, July 2. Those in the mood for a dip in the water can swim under lifeguard supervision as well. “Because our waterfront parks are our first line of defense against the effects of climate change, as well as a breathtaking public amenity for New Yorkers to experience, we have built back stronger and smarter, setting a new standard for shoreline protection,” Parks Commissioner Mitchell J Silver said in a press release issued on June 29. Reconstruction of the new boardwalk began in April of 2014 and sets a new global standard for shoreline design. The project features a multi-layered system of coastal protection that will resist future weather events and help curb the long-term effects of climate change. A steel-reinforced concrete deck, fixed to steel pipe support pillars, will elevate the boardwalk above the current 100-year flood-plain. Six miles of planted dunes and a concrete wall were also added near the boardwalk to keep the beach’s sand in place and to prevent it from entering the streets. Visitors of Rockaway Boardwalk can also expect to walk down brightly colored ramps and ride bicycles down a new designated bike lane. These new additions were thought of during a series of collaborative design sessions between the Parks Department and Rockaway residents. The full Rockaway Boardwalk is now open, but additional construction needs to be completed between Beach 19th and Beach 39th streets. This section is currently open and intact due to repairs made immediately after Hurricane Sandy. The overall reconstruction of the boardwalk is expected by the Parks Department to be completed by Memorial Day 2017. Rockaway Beach is the largest beach in New York City, attracting millions of visitors each year. Numerous food and drink options are available up and down the boardwalk. Concessions are reasonably priced and feature worldly themes including Peruvian, Bolivian, Caribbean and Central Asian fare. Hotels rise in Jamaica following NYC tourism boom By Charlie Perry cperry@qns.com/@QNS With more than 50 million tourists flocking to New York City every year, developers are looking to build more hotels than ever — outside of Manhattan. Developers have their eyes set on the neighborhood of Jamaica in Queens as they plan to build more than a dozen new hotels in the community within the next five years. In 2007, Jamaica’s 368 blocks were rezoned, effectively changing the rules that had been in place since the early 1960s. The rezoning allowed for larger residential as well as commercial structures to be built in Jamaica’s downtown surrounding the transit hub. Since the housing market crashed shortly thereafter, the development of the area known for its high rate of foreclosures has been slow. Furthermore, the lack of funding by the city opened up the door for private companies to set up shop in Jamaica. Private developers have allocated more than 10 building sites throughout Jamaica for hotel construction. The new hotels are being built as a result of low property prices and convenient access to the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and the JFK Airport. Three of the projects are located along 94th Avenue, while two other projects are located on Archer Avenue and the corner of 95th Avenue. “They’re in the center of it all,” Josh Asherian, who is a partner at TCX Development, told The Courier. His company is currently in the process of securing permits from the Department of Buildings (DOB) to begin the construction on a 15-story, 72-room hotel at 92-18 150th St. Asherian believes the construction of these hotels will significantly increase tourism in the area as well as the revenue of small businesses, which will benefit the local economy. Rob MacKay, director of public relations, marketing and tourism at the Queens Economic Development Corporation and Queens Tourism Council, sees the historic tourism boom New York City has been experiencing as the reason for Jamaica’s hotel explosion. New York City is expecting more than 50 million tourists a year for the foreseeable future, according to MacKay. Hotels around Queens are about $100 cheaper per night than Manhattan hotels. With two airports and easy access to Manhattan, tourists are finding Queens to be an attractive alternative for lodging. “I don’t think we had 20 hotels when I was growing up in the 1980s. Now we have more than 100 hotels in the borough,” MacKay said. Tourists are flocking to Jamaica due to its close proximity to JFK Airport, better pricing options and access to convenient transportation including the LIRR, Metro trains and bus systems. MacKay expects that the hotels coming to Jamaica will be a positive addition to the community. He believes they will become involved in local civic and merchant groups and take an interest in the health of the Jamaica community. MacKay thinks there will be some job creation for community members and that these hotels will offer new meeting areas and restaurants. But not everyone is equally optimistic about the sudden arrival of hotels to the area. “You can’t walk through Jamaica without seeing scaffolding or hearing a hammer bang,” Councilman Rory Lancman told The Courier. “All of this construction, including several hotel projects, represents exciting opportunities for local residents, but could also create displacement and rising rents.” Lancman vows to work with the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation, Jamaica Avenue BID, the Sutphin Boulevard BID and other local business leaders to help make sure businesses are taken care of. The various BID programs throughout Queens aim at helping local small business thrive. They also want to keep the costs of living down for the local community as much as possible. Photo: via NIMBY under Creative Commons License Development companies aim to turn Jamaica into a prime tourism hub. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
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