Mixed-use project along Northern Boulevard OK’d

Mixed-use project with 34 market-rate apartments will replace auto parts store in Flushing. On June 29, 2011, the City Council approved Mark Solow’s rezoning proposal for three lots at the northeast corner of Northern Boulevard and Prince Street in Flushing, Queens. The approval rezoned the three lots from  M1-1 to R6 with a C2-2 commercial overlay. Solow requested the rezoning in order to redevelop his property at 135-05 Northern Boulevard. The site is occupied by the Crown Auto Parts store, which Solow plans to demolish and replace with a 52,570 sq.ft. mixed-use building.

Solow’s seven-story project will include 34 market-rate apartments, 7,100 sq.ft. of ground floor retail space, 9,560 sq.ft. of community facility space on the second floor, and a 62-space underground parking facility. The project will also include 3,000 sq.ft. of landscaped outdoor space on the roof of the extended second floor. The area to the west of the project site is zoned M1-1 and developed with low-rise commercial buildings and warehouses. To the east, the area is zoned R6/C2-2 and is developed with a mix of residential, commercial, and community facility space.

No one opposed the project at the City Planning Commission’s hearing on May 25, and the Commission unanimously approved the proposal. The Commission noted that that it recently approved an eleven-story mixed-use project to the north of the site, and that the BSA in 2005 approved a seventeen-story residential building nearby at 135-35 Northern Boulevard. 8 CityLand 74 (June 15, 2011).

At the Council’s Zoning & Franchises Subcommittee hearing, Chair Mark S. Weprin inquired about the amount of parking and whether residents would be charged for using the proposed garage. Solow’s attorney, Eric Palatnik, pointed out that the project would provide more parking than required by the zoning regulations, and according to architect Tony Morali, residents would not be charged for parking.

The Subcommittee unanimously approved the project, and the Land Use Committee and full Council followed suit.

Council: Solow Center (June 29, 2011) (Architect: Morali Architect PLLC).