As Flushing booms, Willets Point looms

Developers hope Flushing's commercial boom will extend to the large swath of office and retail space proposed for the 75-acre redevelopment of Willets Point in Queens, an area dominated by automotive repair shops and junk yards.

The city's Economic Development Corporation has proposed 500,000 square feet of office space and more than 1 million square feet of retail square feet for the area, along with a new convention center and housing. A footbridge will cross wetlands and link Willets Point to downtown Flushing.

Developer TDC International, an affiliate of Flushing-based F & T Group, bid for the Willets Point project and is betting big on Flushing.

In downtown Flushing, TDC recently built Queens Crossing, a 12-story, $120 million complex. The development, at Main and 138th streets, has 140,000 square feet of office condos, 110,000 square feet of retail space and 37,000 square feet of entertainment and dining areas. TDC took the 12th floor itself. The retail space, which has yet to open, will include cafes, an Asian Tea house, a home furnishings store and a clothing store.

TDC, partnering with Rockefeller Development Corporation, is also planning the nearby Flushing Commons, which will cost a projected $800 million. That five-acre, 1.1 million square foot project will construct office space, up to 300,000 square feet of retail, a hotel, a movie theater, 500 housing units and underground parking.

"I can only say what we've seen in Flushing and Flushing is booming," TDC president Michael Meyer said. He cited last year's report from former State Comptroller Alan Hevesi which ranked Flushing as the strongest neighborhood economy outside Manhattan.

Meyer said he expected demand for office space in Flushing to spill over to Willets Point, where growing Queens businesses could fill the new office space alone, without Manhattan companies relocating back offices.

Last year, the EDC announced the finalists that bid on the Willets Point project, including: Macerich Company and AvalonBay; Westfield Corporation; Vornado; Forest City Ratner; The Related Companies; General Growth Properties; Rosenshein Associates, LCOR, and Sage Hotel; and Muss Development. The EDC declined to say if any had dropped out of the running.

Muss is building Sky View Parc, formerly called Flushing Town Center, which will include 3.3 million square feet of retail space at a 14-acre site at College Point Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue.

Michael Slattery, the Real Estate Board of New York's senior vice president, said Flushing's population and economic growth has driven demand for more office space.

At the end of June, the average asking rent for Queens office space was $25.93 a square foot, while the borough's vacancy rate was 10.6 percent, according to Robert Sammons of Colliers ABR, who tracks commercial space throughout New York City.

Not everyone is bullish on Flushing. Tom Angotti, director of the Hunter College Center for Community Planning and Development and author of last year's study on Willets Point, said he doubted that the area could sustain the proposed office space. He said that Willets Point's separation from Flushing could not be erased by a lone footbridge.

"It is a lengthy bridge that is not very inviting across wetlands," he said. "I would certainly want to see the numbers to convince me that there is real demand."

Angotti said he does not know if businesses will choose Willets Point over neighboring Flushing, let alone Jamaica, with its easy access to Kennedy Airport and an expected rezoning that will allow more commercial building.

The Hunter study cites Willets Point's role as the city's auto repair hub, which would be dispersed by the redevelopment. While the area is often criticized as an eyesore, some community leaders say the local economy is thriving and the new project isn't needed.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg stressed the need to develop Willets Point at a May press conference, where he unveiled the plan. The EDC says it hopes to select a developer by the end of the year.

"For far too long, the Willets Point peninsula has been an area marked by unrealized potential and neglect, inhibiting growth in Downtown Flushing and Corona and steadily becoming more polluted," Bloomberg said. By John Celock