City sneakily converts Rego Park hotel into a homeless shelter

 

 

Queens Chronicle

Community Board 6 Chair Heather Beers-Dimitriadis says her board and her community have no issue with carrying their fair share to help with the city’s homeless crunch.

But she did tell the Chronicle that board members were surprised with the speed and lack of communication involved with the Department of Social Services’ decision to open a single men’s homeless shelter at the Wyndham Hotel, located at 61-18 93 St. in Rego Park, as early as March.

Beers-Dimitriadis said the board got the final word during a presentation from the DSS at its Jan. 10 meeting.

“We had been working with DSS on a project to bring family transitional housing to our district,” she told the Chronicle last Friday. “It’s new construction next to the [Rego Park]post office. And we were pleased to see it was coming. We were approached in the fall and told that they were going to be converting the Wyndham Hotel into a single adult male shelter, and basically the letter said, ‘because you don’t have shelters in your community.’ You know, we were sort of surprised, because as far as we were concerned, we thought the transitional housing was sort of us doing our part.”

Board 6, in fact, routinely requests funds for transitional housing on its annual list of priorities for city capital funding.

“And so when we found out this was going to be moving in the first quarter of 2024 — which could be potentially March, it might lead into April — I mean, we had very little time to respond, so we have been sort of scrambling to learn as much as we can.”

The shelter will be run by Community Housing Innovations, which Beers-Dimitriadis said is new to Queens but does operate in surrounding counties.

The DSS and the Department of Homeless Services did not pick up their phones for multiple calls last week, and the phone system did not accept messages. The DSS also had not responded to an email sent through its website to Commissioner Molly Park as of Sunday afternoon.

Councilman Jim Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows), who inherited the area in the new redistricting after Board 6 was notified last fall, said in an email that he has been getting up to speed.

“We were not notified about this shelter until after the district lines moved in the new year,” he said. “In spite of that, my office has hit the ground running, and has already scheduled a meeting with the Dept. of Social Services to learn everything there is to know about the shelter and the shelter operator. I am committed to working with DSS and the community to ensure that, if this shelter needs to happens, it rolls out correctly and with full transparency.”

Beers-Dimitriadis said there are concerns that it is effectively across Queens Boulevard from the transitional housing project; literally across the street from the Lost Battalion Hall Community Center, which is undergoing massive renovations; and within walking district of PS 206, the Horace Harding School.

 Was the Maspeth protests against hotel shelter conversions that long ago?

 

Food app delivery workers ebikes and illegal motorcycles block sidewalk egress

 

 Queens Chronicle

“Oh, thank God.”

A man walking on 63rd Drive in Rego Park expressed that opinion last week when learning the Chronicle was taking photos for a story on how delivery riders of e-bikes, scooters and other two-wheeled vehicles have had a recent tendency to clog the sidewalk in front of a Taco Bell, Popeyes and bagel shop that adjoin each other.

His comment was little different from complaints the Chronicle has received via email about the site. At one point during the Sept. 14 visit, a senior citizen with a walker and one using a personal mobility chair simultaneously tried to navigate their way through 11 parked vehicles and their drivers.

State Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Woodhaven) said in an interview on Tuesday that his office and the 112th Precinct are well aware of the situation and that the police are working to resolve it.

“My office has reached out to the 112th Precinct,” he said. “I’m planing to talk with all four precincts in my district. I’ll ask them, as I frequently do, ‘What can I do on a state level? What legislation can be done?’”

He said there already are laws requiring that some classes of two-wheeled vehicles be registered, and their operators licensed.

“But obviously, some are not,” Addabbo said. “And I’ve got a feeling that for every illegal one the police get, 10 more pop up in its place. Like the pot shops. It’s just a daunting task. That’s what law enforcement is up against here.”

In emails from their offices, Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Forest Hills) and a spokesman for Councilwoman Lynn Schulman (D-Forest Hills) said they have gotten similar complaints from constituents about other areas, but not that section of 63rd Drive specifically.

Both said their offices work directly with the 112th and other precincts on the problem.

“The NYPD is empowered to confiscate unlicensed scooters and e-bikes that don’t meet city regulations. I know that the 112th Precinct has been successful at increasing the number of scooters and bikes confiscated,” Schulman’s spokesman said. “With regards to what pedestrians can do, I would suggest that they call 311 and report the situation, especially if the scooter is blocking the sidewalk or intersection. If 311 does not solve the problem, they can reach out to our office and we will work directly with the NYPD to assist.”

Hevesi in his email said the vehicles play a huge role in the city for everyone from commuters to service providers.

But he also said the regulations for e-bikes and scooters are very clear.

“If the rules are not followed, it becomes a matter of enforcement,” Hevesi said

Le bike lane resistance

Rockawave 

Merchants on Beach 20th Street in Far Rockaway continue to face headaches with the new raised-bike lane on their street, creating a tripping hazard and making their day to day ability to function their business far more difficult.

According to several business owners and observed by Wave reporters, cars park on the bike lane, which the businesses owners say bike riders don’t use anyway. When cars park on either side of the street it creates a bottleneck, creating more traffic. Also, many businesses on the block do not have loading docks, and with people parking on the bike lane, they have nowhere to handle deliveries. 

“This is dangerous,” said Jose Santana, owner of Unisex by Santana Salon on Beach 20th. Santana recently spoke at the September Community Board 14 meeting, and has helped draft a letter to the Department of Transportation, signed by most of the merchants on the strip. 

Businesses say that since the bike lane was constructed in July, they have seen few bike riders actually utilize it.   

“There’s no bicycles,” said Ming Liu, owner of Sunny’s, a mix Hibachi and Mexican restaurant. “This is 20th Street, there’s so many cars…A lot of people park on the bike lane,” he said. 

Like other owners, Liu called the raised-lane “dangerous” and that he’s seen people fall down. 

Odali Rodriguez, owner of Green Village Meat Market, has experienced this first hand. 

“I tripped, I was going across the street and I tripped,” he told The Wave. “It’s very dangerous, I’ve seen incidents, including myself.” 

Rodriguez is one of the few stores on the block with a loading dock in the back, so he is more worried about the danger of tripping. 

“When you walk there you think everything is flat, there’s no indication that it’s not flat,” he said. 

Other merchants agree that the bike lane is dangerous, Seon Maynard who owns a West Indian Market says he has seen at least ten people trip. 

“They should be suing the city,” he said. 

Some owners have received $115 tickets for loitering while loading goods, like Enrique Perez from Valencia Cakes & Flowers. 

“We should be able to load and unload, we shouldn’t be getting a ticket if we take too long,” Perez said. “It’s hard for us because people are parking there,” he said. 

PIX News 

 Speeding, traffic jams and dangerous crossings are all the problems one street in Queens is causing neighbors.

Rego Park’s 62nd Drive is identified as a “high crash corridor“ by the New York Department of Transportation (DOT). More than a dozen people have been seriously hurt on the road over the last five years.

The DOT’s solution was to add a bike lane on the side, with parking in the center. Unfortunately, neighbors say it came with new problems.

“My main concern is people’s health,” neighbor Arsen Gurgov said.

Gurgov has lived on 62nd Drive in Rego Park for the past 25 years. He says the new bike lane and parking configuration have made things worse than ever.

“My son was having an allergic reaction and I called for an ambulance. It took them too long to get here because they were stuck in a jam,“ he said.

Speeding in the Rego Park area is also still a big problem. A very big problem.

Year to date, police have written more than 3.5 times as many speeding tickets as they did in the same time last year; 1,577 speeding tickets compared to just 434 the previous year.

Moving violations are also up 40%.

A DOT spokesman says they presented the idea about the bike lane to the community board a year ago as a way to fix the dangers.

“These bike lanes improve safety for all road users, providing much-needed traffic calming while adding important protected bike lane connections between Queens Boulevard and Flushing Meadows Park,” spokesman Vincent Barone said.

Rego Park neighbors disagree with the DOT. Nearly 100 of them have signed a petition to have the bike lane and center parking adjusted or removed altogether.

“It’s either or,” Gurgov said. “They either get rid of the side parking, or they get rid of the bike lane. You can’t have both. It’s too narrow of a street.”

Vincent Barone is a bike zealot idiot. These two stories confirm that the DOT is forcing bike lanes on communities to drive them crazy and they are being weaponized as tools for gentrification.

Biking to work on Queens Boulevard

It was bike to work day Friday so I thought I would see if other riders would be making the trek on the longest bike lane in Queens. Considering how perfect the weather was, very little decided to participate. Which is how it is every day on this route.

Vaccinated and masked NYPD bounce a child out of Applebee's

NYPD kicks out a child for not having a vaccine passport.

pic.twitter.com/2bkeK0sRnv

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) December 28, 2021

Community board rejects luxury public housing building to replace tower diner

Queens Post  

Queens Community Board 6 rejected a developer’s rezoning application that seeks to replace a popular Rego Park diner and synagogue on Queens Boulevard with a 15-story mixed-use building.

The board, which represents the neighborhoods of Rego Park and Forest Hills, voted 20 to 19 against the plan during a virtual meeting on Dec. 8.

The plan calls for the demolition of several buildings on a large triangular block — occupied by the Tower Diner, Ohr Natan Synagogue and various small businesses — to make way for apartments and retail space.

The application, submitted by RJ Capital Holdings, proposes constructing a 153,400-square-foot building at 98-81 Queens Blvd that would include 17,400 square feet of retail space and 144 units — 44 of which would be “affordable” pursuant to the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing requirement. The plan requires the site to be rezoned and therefore must be approved by the city before it can move forward.

However, neither the community board nor the city can stop RJ Capital from demolishing the buildings — and putting up a new development — since the property is not landmarked. The community board is only able to provide a yes or no recommendation on the developer’s upzoning plans, not its demolition plans.

RJ Capital can build an apartment complex — albeit smaller — as of right. In fact, the company said it would construct a 103-unit building with zero affordable apartments if its rezoning application were to be rejected.

The local community board is the first to review and vote on the plan in the process used by the city to assess rezoning applications — the Uniform Land Use Review Process.

Next, it goes to the borough president, who offers his own recommendation on the plan.

Both Community Board 6’s vote and Richards’ future recommendation are only advisory. The City Council has the ultimate say as to whether RJ Capital’s rezoning application gets approved.

The advisory recommendations, however, do influence how the city council votes.

The NYPD is officially enforcing The Blaz's vaccine extortion mandate.

A group of 30 + antivaxxers claiming to be doing a “sit in” refused to check in at the host stand, skipped waiting customers, and sat themselves across multiple tables in a Cheesecake Factory in NYC.

They are now arguing with police. One antivaxxer compared the police to Nazis. pic.twitter.com/elFKOoTZ98

— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) December 15, 2021

4 people ended up being arrested after refusing to leave. The antivaxxer group called it segregation and discrimination.

In reality, they skipped paying customers waiting in line. Seems like a bad strategy. pic.twitter.com/pdBMTmvCSR

— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) December 15, 2021

Rego Park's fallen Empire

The Corona and Rego Park Horrors

 

 

Impunity City

 Located on Van Doren St. abutting 108 St and Corona Ave., this multi-family house has been abandoned for over a decade. And according to Department of Buildings records, it hasn’t been inspected for a decade as well. Apparently there was interior work being done on this home the last time the DOB was here in 2011 and after a bathroom collapsed through the ceiling and the ticket was resolved, the owner and the DOB just gave up on it.

 

 

But it’s not the only shithole in the Middle East of Queens, about 5 miles away in Rego Park stands another abandoned formerly modest two-family house. on Wetherhole St, just a hundred feet from bustling Woodhaven Blvd and a quick walk from the Queens Center Mall.

 

Residents raise ruckus over displacement of theater synagogue and diner for luxury tower

NY Post

More than 3,500 residents have signed a petition to save the beloved Ohr Natan Synagogue — housed in an Art Deco-style building with an iconic clock tower — and the Trylon Theater & Tower Diner in Rego Park, according to a change.org petition.

The project was hotly debated at a Community Board 6 meeting Wednesday evening.

“This is one of the most cultural, social, significant, historical, and architectural sites of the community,” the petition proclaims. “The redevelopment plan would not only demolish historic buildings, but uproot a synagogue providing religious & humanitarian services, and likely pose an economic hardship on all the small businesses in the area.”

During the public hearing period at Wednesday night’s meeting, many locals voiced their opposition to the plan.

“This proposed change is not just disturbing, it is devastating,” Queens resident Carol Hagarty said in written testimony to the board.

“No accommodations are in place to preserve whatever is of historic, architectural, or social value on the block!” said Hagarty, who has lived in the area for over 40 years.

Another public commenter, Joanne Davis, wrote: “Build apartment buildings elsewhere. Raze ugly square buildings. Do not destroy this beautiful building.”

Rest in peace bubala

  

Crains New York

Rumors about the future of a Jewish funeral home in Queens have been laid to rest.

Parkside Memorial Chapel at 98-60 Queens Blvd. in Rego Park will become a 51-unit residential project spanning about 72,000 square feet, according to plans that owner David Matatov filed Tuesday with the city Department of Buildings.

The mixed-use development would stand 7 stories tall and include commercial and community space, along with 15 parking spots. JFA is the architect of record.

A firm linked to RB Realty Capital purchased the building from Parkside Memorial Chapels in July for slightly less than $11 million, property records show. The developer filed an application Wednesday to demolish the 2-story building, but the application has not been approved yet, and the demolition permit has not been issued, according to the DOB.

Parkside has multiple other locations in the city, including at 1700 Coney Island Ave. in Midwood, Brooklyn, and at 114-03 Queens Blvd. in Forest Hills, Queens, according to its website.

Representatives for RB Realty did not respond to a request for comment.

City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz told the Queens Chronicle in February that the project planned to replace the funeral home would be an affordable-housing development for senior citizens. Her office did not respond to a request for comment on whether that is still in the works.

Why are these people so shy? Don't they want to help the housing insecure and retired senior citizens?

Rockaway Rail Line extension might not be that expensive

  

Queens Post

Advocates who are calling for a north-south subway line in central Queens say the proposal is more feasible than what the MTA estimates.

A new report commissioned by supporters of the proposal, dubbed the QueensLink Corridor, found that the project would be billions of dollars less than what the MTA has pegged it to be.

The QueensLink Corridor would create a north-south subway line through central Queens that would connect Rego Park to Ozone Park by extending the M line. The line would use 3.5 miles of abandoned LIRR tracks that were once part of the Rockaway Beach Branch line.

The MTA published a study looking at the cost and feasibility of the project in 2019. The study, completed by Systra Engineering, estimated the cost would be about $8.1 billion.

However, the study commissioned by QueensLink supporters and completed by transportation firm TEMS Inc., found the cost to be between $3.4 and $3.7 billion.

The advocates’ report also included the cost of creating green space along the railway line.

The cost difference lies not in the actual price of construction, but in what the TEMS’ report calls “soft costs” — things like professional services and contingency factors.

TEMS said the estimates of such costs “are out of line with industry standards.”

Rego Park diner and other small businesses will be destroyed for luxury public housing tower

 Queens Post

 A developer has filed permits to demolish a number of buildings in Rego Park, including a popular diner and a synagogue that occupies a historic Art Deco building.

RJ Capital Holdings, under the name Trylon LLC, filed the demolition permits on May 3 for the triangular lot at 98-85 Queens Blvd. where Tower Diner, Ohr Natan Synagogue and several businesses sit.

The development company aims to rezone the site in order to build a 16-story mixed-use building on the soon-to-be empty lot. The rezoning plans have yet to be certified by the Dept. of City Planning, with the public review process still to take place.

 Rudolf Abramov, managing principal of RJ Capital Holdings, previously told the Queens Post that he aims to offer Ohr Natan Synagogue space in the new building, as well as any other current tenants who are interested.

The synagogue is a popular place of worship for members of the Bukharian community in the neighborhood. It occupies the building that once was the historic Art Deco-styled Trylon Theater, which opened in 1939 and closed in 1999. It serves a congregation of roughly 1,000 members, mostly residents of Rego Park and Forest Hills.

The leaders of the synagogue and the development company have been at odds with each other for years, but have since reconciled and hope to establish a home for Ohr Natan in the proposed development.

How is this luxurious monstrosity going to fit?

 

 

NY YIMBY

New renderings from Michael Muroff Architect reveal Armature, a seven-story residential building at 64-08 Wetherole Street in Rego Park, Queens. Developed by Tahoe Development, a local real estate investment entity, the structure features an exposed concrete frame that visually and structurally links the ground-floor planters, residential balconies, and rooftop trellises. Many of the building’s floor-to-ceiling windows are recessed behind the structural forms offering a sense of modesty from within and industrial minimalism from the exterior vantage.

When complete, Armature will comprise around 20,000 square feet, the majority of which is accounted for in residential area. The solo component will yield 26 rental apartments ranging from studios up to two-bedroom layouts. Associated amenity spaces will include a roof deck with private cabanas and passive recreation space, a fitness room, dog bathing areas, a package room, bike stations, and a 13-vehicle parking lot.

 I think it's prudent to point out that this was approved without Cojo's "Planning Together". 

Say goodbye to that baby tree there. And we thought de Blasio cared about the environment.

 

Day of the Squirrel

 

CBS New York 

 

Today Rego Park, tomorrow the world

Developer demands upzoning for apartment building where Shalimar Diner once was

 

 

  Queens Post

A developer has filed plans with the Department of City Planning to have a Rego Park site where the Shalimar Diner was located rezoned.

The application was filed earlier this year by David Koptiev, the owner of the Forest Hills-based company Platinum Realty, who is looking to construct a nine-story, 74-unit project on the 63-68 Austin St. site.

The plans were certified by City Planning on Oct. 5 and the public review process has begun.

The site had been occupied by the Shalimar Diner from 1974 through to the end of 2018. The corner property was purchased by two LLCs owned by Koptiev for $6,550,000 on Nov. 15, 2018 from Alderton Associates.

Alderton was owned by Hildy Limondjian, whose family had the property for decades.

The Austin Street site is currently located in a R4 zoning district—with a C2-2 commercial overlay—which typically allows for a three-story mixed use building, according to City Planning documents.

 

421a-holes busted by A.G.

   The Real Deal

 A new investigation into buildings that benefit from the 421a tax abatement by New York Attorney General Letitia James found that four developers in Brooklyn and Queens received the tax break but didn’t live up to the program’s requirements.

The developers’ misdeeds ranged from falsely reporting a full building was vacant to not offering rent-stabilized leases to tenants as the program requires in most cases.

“Rent-stabilization laws exist to protect tenants, and we will not let landlords or developers circumvent them,” James said in a statement. “The agreements announced today affirm my office’s commitment to promoting access to safe, affordable housing for all New Yorkers. This is a notice to all bad actors seeking to take advantage of tenants: Not on my watch.”

None of the developers named in the latest investigation return requests for comment.

The Real Estate Board of New York issued a statement in support of James, adding that such violations are rare, and underscoring the program’s importance for affordable housing.

“We applaud Attorney General James for taking action to ensure that 421a is used only as intended and required under State law,” said James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York. “The 421a program continues to play a crucial role in the production of much-needed below-market rate housing across New York City — and while bad actors are rare, it is always unacceptable for any developer to try to utilize the program without complying with its rent-stabilization requirements.”

One firm, Tuhsur Development, tried to evict tenants from its property at 63-36 99th Street in Rego Park even though a state investigation found it had overcharged those tenants $22,042.

21 story tower to be developed on little Rego Park soccer field.

Forest Hills Post


Plans have been filed for a 21-story, 261-unit apartment building in Rego Park on a vacant lot next to the now-shuttered Our Lady of the Angelus Catholic Academy.

The plans, filed Aug. 6, call for a 143 feet tall building at 98-10 63^rd Rd. that will include about 177,000 square feet designated for apartments, with the average unit measuring at about 675 square feet. The development will include 19,000 square feet for community facilities and 156 enclosed parking spaces.

The site was the former soccer field used by the academy. It is one block from the Rego Center Mall and a 5-minute walk to the 63 Drive-Rego Park subway station, serviced by the M and R trains.

Kenney Liu, a Flushing-based developer, is listed as the owner. He bought the lot from the Church of
Our Lady of the Angelus for $30 million in January, according to City records.

London Lennie's owners are selling their property

 

QNS


The latest catch of the day for real estate developers in Queens could be the site of London Lennie’s Restaurant in Rego Park.

An advertisement on the real estate website Zillow that surfaced on May 23 listed the beloved eatery at 63-88 Woodhaven Blvd. as being “for sale or lease” with a $6.5 million price tag. Salvatore Crifasi of Crifasi Real Estate is handling the transaction.

Even with the site being on the market, London Lennie’s remains open for business, serving luxurious seafood lunches and dinners to hundreds of guests each week.

The Zillow description notes that the one-story property is “a rare development site.” The restaurant itself occupies 6,000 sq. ft. of the 10,700 sq. ft. lot, but the existing residential zoning and commercial overlay could allow a developer to erect a more than 22,000 sq. ft. building — nearly four times the size of the existing eatery.

“This redevelopment opportunity provides developers the ability to capitalize on tremendous demand in an area with a scarcity of developable [sic] land,” according to listing, which indicated that it could be perfect for a “mixed-use project with the potential to include … medical, retail, residential, community facility, hotel and/or office.”

The restaurant’s owner also owns the property through a holding company listed on city records as RP Seafood LLC. Crifasi told QNS the owner is keeping his options open about whether to sell the restaurant and its property, or lease the building to a tenant for uses other than a restaurant.

D.A. candidate Katz holds campaign fundraiser at mob connected restaurant

 

NY Post

Aren’t these the guys she’s supposed to be putting away?

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz boosted her campaign for district attorney by holding a fund-raiser at a mobbed-up eatery in Rego Park, The Post has learned.

Sources said Katz partied with supporters Tuesday night at the Barosa Italian restaurant, which is co-owned by reputed Genovese associate Frank Barbone.

Barbone, 47, has twice been convicted in illegal-gambling cases, including one in Queens for which he served a 1 ¹/₂ to 4 ¹/₂- year prison term.

He’s currently on supervised release in the other — in which he admitted to a Manhattan federal judge that gangsters might drop by his place from time to time.

Barone was present at the restaurant during Katz’s fund-raiser, for which tickets cost $150 each, sources said.

“Shouldn’t she know where the owner is a mobster?” a source wondered.

In 2016, Barbone was among 46 reputed gangsters busted in what the feds called a “sprawling and long-running racketeering conspiracy” that involved four of New York’s “Five Families,” as well as the Philly mob run by Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino.

Prosecutors said Barbone ran an illegal sports-gambling operation with reputed Genovese member Alex Conigliaro, with whom he was also convicted in 2000 on state gambling charges.
 
In 2017, Barbone struck a plea bargain that got him a one-day, time-served jail sentence, and three years supervised release.

 Katz campaign spokesman Grant Fox said: “It’s surprising that Melinda’s opponents, who are tripping over themselves claiming to be reformers, are floating this kind of half-baked opposition research to hurt someone who paid his debt to society and now runs a popular restaurant that has hosted events for candidates on both sides of the aisle.”