Little Neck residents want wall to come down

From the Queens Chronicle:

The wall is up, the people are angry, and, according to state Sen. Tony Avella, “a stop work [order] is going into effect.”

At the center of the controversy is the construction of a new 35-foot-high building, which would sit atop a hill that is already approximately 10 feet above curb level, in the middle of a tree-lined residential neighborhood in Little Neck.

Nearly 100 area residents, along with Avella, Assemblyman Ed Braunstein (D-Bayside) and Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens) and representatives of Community Board 11, gathered at the corner of 262nd Street and 60th Road on Tuesday morning to protest the construction.

“The moment I saw this, looking at the wall, I felt I was back in the concentration camp,” said a woman who identified herself only as Margret, a Holocaust survivor who lives on the corner across the street from the site. “It is very depressing. I sit at my table and I have to look at this wall.”

The wall, from most accounts, seemed to have been erected overnight.

BSA approves 2 Little Neck projects

From Bayside Patch:

The city’s Board of Standards and Appeals has granted permits for two long-vacant sites in Little Neck, Community Board 11’s district manager said.

Permits have been approved for a watch manufacturer to move its headquarters into the former Leviton site along Little Neck Parkway and for a complex to be constructed at the former Scobee Diner site.

Susan Seinfeld, CB 11’s district manager, said that E. Gluck Corp., a watch manufacturer based in Long Island City, has been given the go-ahead to begin work at the Little Neck Parkway locale that previously housed Leviton, which manufactured electrical wiring devices and motion sensors.

A permit has also been granted for the former Scobee Diner on Northern Boulevard, where a complex is planned that will house a bank on its first floor and a dentist’s office on the second floor.

The popular diner closed for business in November 2010.

Watch manufacturer moving to former Leviton site

From the Queens Chronicle:

The Queens Chronicle has learned that E. Gluck Corp., now located in Long Island City, has leased the former Leviton site, which was the corporate headquarters for the firm that makes electrical wiring devices and motion sensors. Leviton officials moved its operation to Melville, LI in 2009 and the property at 59-25 Little Neck Parkway has remained vacant since then.

The 6.7-acre site was bought by Steel Equities, a commercial real estate developer, and the only usage at the site had been storage for a car dealer in Great Neck.

Susan Seinfeld, district manager of Community Board 11, said that Gluck officials had met with area elected officials, including Assemblyman Ed Braunstein (D-Bayside), to discuss their plans.

Gluck applied to the city for $12.8 million in tax breaks, which was granted, according to Comptroller John Liu’s office. His office had no issues with the subsidies.

Plans call for Gluck to add 81,000 square feet to the building. The property is zoned for manufacturing so the project is as of right.

The company employs 348 workers and intends to add 45 additional employees within three years, according to the firm’s application under the city’s industrial incentive program..

Large lot rejected by SCA as high school site

From Douglaston Patch:

The city has still not designated a locale for a new northeast Queens high school due to a lack of available spots and transportation concerns, Community District Education Council 26’s chairwoman said.

The School Construction Authority has considered several sites, mostly in Bayside and Auburndale, for the school. But the city has nixed the idea of building at the former Leviton manufacturing facility’s property.

Jeannette Segal, CDEC 26’s chairwoman, told board members that the site for the new school had been discussed during a recent meeting at the Queens Borough President’s office.

“We touched upon the overcrowding of high schools but, as always, there was no resolution,” Segal said during last night’s monthly meeting. “The problem is there is no land. And the problem with building too far east is transportation – getting kids there is not cost effective. They are looking more to the west.”

There are no high school kids in eastern Queens that would utilize this school? Is there not a problem getting kids to schools where there is no subway, like Maspeth, Bayside and Forest Hills?