Flushing

Hundreds of New Yorkers, mostly African and Native American residents, who were buried in Flushing at least 150 years ago were finally honored with a memorial this week. The city's Parks Department and Queens officials on Tuesday cut the ribbon on a new commemorative plaza at the Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground. The site, located north of 46th Avenue between 164th and 165th Streets, was used as a public burial ground starting as early as 1840, with over 1,000 individuals buried there until 1898. A new memorial wall includes the name of the sacred site, a brief history, and 318 recorded names of those buried there, and the new plaza has a butterfly garden and surrounding benches.
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History

Futuristic hotel/condo tower designed by a Zaha Hadid alum will rise near LaGuardia Airport

Renderings courtesy of SASI Studio

September 17, 2021

Futuristic hotel/condo tower designed by a Zaha Hadid alum will rise near LaGuardia Airport

A high-rise hotel and condo building designed by a former senior architect at Zaha Hadid's firm is coming to Queens. Located at 112-51 Northern Boulevard in Corona, the 25-story mixed-use development, dubbed Eastern Emerald, will have roughly 250 hotel rooms, 191 apartments, and a conference and performing arts center. The 370+ foot project, which will break ground this month, features a futuristic, environmentally-friendly design that will reduce carbon emissions and use clean energy for heating and cooling systems.
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July 1, 2021

The Mets and Airbnb team up to offer baseball fans an overnight stay at Citi Field

For baseball fans, this Airbnb stay is pretty Amazin'. The New York Mets and Airbnb are teaming up to offer a one-night stay for four at Citi Field this month for $250. Not only does the promotion include a once-in-a-lifetime sleepover, but the winning guests will also get a VIP private suite to watch two games and throw out the first pitch during one of them.
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Events & Things To Do

Queens Night Market will return to Flushing Meadows Corona Park this spring

Photo credit: Storm Garner

January 14, 2021

Queens Night Market will return to Flushing Meadows Corona Park this spring

After canceling its 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Queens Night Market is set to return this spring. John Wang, founder of the popular open-air market, said he plans to kick off the event on April 17 at the New York Hall of Science at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, while keeping an eye on the city's COVID-19 metrics. The food market, open on Saturday nights, will tentatively run through October 30.
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13-tower project proposed for Flushing as part of rezoning gets City Council approval

Rendering: FWRA LLC

December 10, 2020

13-tower project proposed for Flushing as part of rezoning gets City Council approval

Plans to rezone parts of the Flushing waterfront to make way for a 13-tower mixed-use development were approved by the New York City Council on Thursday. The approval of the zoning changes and the project, which calls for 1,725 units of housing, a hotel, offices, and retail space across 29 acres, came after elected officials reached an agreement this week with union groups SEIU 32BJ and the Hotels Trade Council to provide good-paying jobs for service workers, as well as hire public housing residents in the area.
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Policy

Mist garden from 1964 World’s Fair restored at Flushing Meadows Corona Park

Photos by Daniel Avila/NYC Parks

November 2, 2020

Mist garden from 1964 World’s Fair restored at Flushing Meadows Corona Park

When the World's Fair descended upon Flushing Meadows Corona Park in 1964-1965, one of the big attractions was the Unisphere. And leading up to this 140-foot-tall stainless steel globe was the Fountain of the Fairs, a large reflecting pool that acted as an interactive mist garden. Though they were renovated in 2000, the fountains were seriously damaged during Hurricane Sandy and stopped working. However, after a recent $6.8 million upgrade, they are back up and running.
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With baseball set to return next month, Yankees and Mets will train in New York

Photo of Citi Field by Tomas Eidsvold on Unsplash

June 24, 2020

With baseball set to return next month, Yankees and Mets will train in New York

Baseball is back. After the coronavirus pandemic put the sport on hold for over three months, Major League Baseball on Tuesday announced a plan to return, with "spring" training to resume on July 1 and opening day games scheduled for July 23 and 24, with no fans. The training will take place at the home stadiums for teams, meaning the Yankees and Mets will return to the Bronx and Flushing starting this week.
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Uncategorized

A giant mural memorializes NYC doctor who died from COVID-19

GreenPoint Innovations / Eduardo Amorim for Gerada Art

June 3, 2020

A giant mural memorializes NYC doctor who died from COVID-19

A massive art mural that honors a New York City doctor who died from the coronavirus has taken over a parking lot in Queens. Spray-painted by Cuban-American artist Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada, the land art, titled "Somos La Luz" depicts Dr. Ydelfonso Decoo, a Dominican immigrant who lived in Washington Heights and skipped retirement to treat patients during the pandemic. The project also aims to memorialize all front line employees in New York City, particularly Hispanic and African American workers who continue to face disproportionate rates of infection and death caused by the virus.
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Events & Things To Do

31 apartments up for grabs at amenity-rich rental in Flushing, from $1,750/month

Photo by Chris Hamby on Flickr

April 13, 2020

31 apartments up for grabs at amenity-rich rental in Flushing, from $1,750/month

A housing lottery kicked off on Monday for 31 new, middle-income apartments in the Queens neighborhood of Flushing. The rental at 144-74 Northern Boulevard contains 100 units and ground-floor retail, including the Korean supermarket H Mart and a Burger King. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 130 percent area median income can apply for the apartments, which range from $1,750/month studios to $2,400/month two-bedrooms.
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Affordable Housing

Queens’ US Open tennis complex will become a 350-bed hospital to relieve Elmhurst Hospital

Photo by Michael Vadon on Flickr

April 1, 2020

Queens’ US Open tennis complex will become a 350-bed hospital to relieve Elmhurst Hospital

A 350-bed medical facility will be built at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens to ease the pressure the Elmhurst Hospital has been facing amidst the coronavirus outbreak. Construction began at the site in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, which hosts the US Open tournament, yesterday. The city's Emergency Management selected the site to serve as a temporary facility, which will begin treating COVID non-ICU patients beginning next Tuesday, April 7th. The center's indoor courts will be converted into the medical facility, with its Louis Armstrong Stadium set to become a place for volunteers to assemble 25,000 meal packages per day for patients, workers, and students.
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Policy

48-year-old Chinatown restaurant Jing Fong temporarily shuts down

Photo by josh s jackson via Flickr cc

March 13, 2020

48-year-old Chinatown restaurant Jing Fong temporarily shuts down

NYC's largest Chinese restaurant, Jing Fong, has temporarily shut its doors at 20 Elizabeth Street amid the coronavirus health crisis. The situation is two-fold for the iconic dim sum restaurant; not only is business down 30 to 40 percent, according to the Post, but since the restaurant has 800 seats, they fall under Governor Cuomo's order that gatherings of 500 or more be shut down. The effect of the pandemic has been especially hard for restaurants in Manhattan's Chinatown, as well as those Chinatowns in Flushing and Sunset Park.
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Food & Dining

NYC Parks breaks ground on $24M project to restore Philip Johnson’s 1964 World’s Fair Pavilion

Rendering of architectural lighting: Silman via NYC Parks

November 11, 2019

NYC Parks breaks ground on $24M project to restore Philip Johnson’s 1964 World’s Fair Pavilion

After five years of halting progress, NYC Parks officially broke ground last week on a $24 million project that will preserve the Philip Johnson-designed New York State Pavilion Observation Towers in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The current project represents the first major effort to preserve the Pavilion's structures since their construction for the 1964 World’s Fair.
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Architecture And Design

Restoration of Philip Johnson’s 1964 New York State Pavilion will begin this month

Image via Purpleturtle52 on Wiki Commons

September 10, 2019

Restoration of Philip Johnson’s 1964 New York State Pavilion will begin this month

By Alexandra Alexa

Plans to restore the Philip Johnson-designed New York State Pavilion at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park have been inching along slowly over the past five years. Now, the project finally has a construction start date, Untapped Cities reported. Work will begin by the end of the month and is expected to be completed in March 2021. As 6sqft previously reported, the project has acquired just over $24 million in funding from the Mayor's office, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, City Council, and a FEMA grant for Hurricane Sandy repairs.
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Architecture And Design

Asian food hall and performance space could come to Flushing’s Sky View Parc

Google Street View of the mall and Sky View Parc

May 23, 2019

Asian food hall and performance space could come to Flushing’s Sky View Parc

According to The Real Deal, developer Blackstone will be opening an upscale food hall at Flushing's Shops at Skyview, a large shopping mall with big-box stores such as Target, BJ's, and Nordstrom Rack that's part of the larger Sky View Parc luxury condo development. In addition to plans for "chef-driven" and "fast-cash" food offerings, performance spaces and nightlife events are also in the works. And according to the group who will be curating the food hall, it's taking inspiration from San Francisco's popular Chinese marketplace.
More details ahead

Food & Dining

Did you know NYC’s only surviving cycling track is in Flushing?

1964 US Olympic Trials at Kissena Velodrome. From page 47 of “30 years of progress, 1934-1964 : Department of Parks : 300th anniversary of the City of New York : New York World’s Fair.” (1964). Via Internet Archive Book Images on Flickr

March 22, 2019

Did you know NYC’s only surviving cycling track is in Flushing?

By Lucie Levine

From the late 1890s through the 1920s, tens of thousands of New Yorkers turned out to witness the high drama of competitive bicycle speed racing. In New York, there were Velodromes (cycling tracks) at Coney Island, in the Bronx, and even at the original Madison Square Garden, where grueling six-day races called “Madisons” pushed riders to their limits. The sport fell prey to the Depression, and today there are just 26 Velodromes in the United States, including one in New York City, the Kissena Velodrome in Flushing’s Kissena Park, known to Velodrome enthusiasts as “the Track of Dreams.”
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History

The 15 best places in NYC to ring in the Lunar New Year

Via Wikimedia

February 1, 2019

The 15 best places in NYC to ring in the Lunar New Year

One of New York City's most spirited events kicks off next Tuesday: the Lunar New Year. With multiple Chinatowns and Asian communities across the five boroughs, there is no shortage of events to celebrate the nearly two-week-long holiday, which is said to have originated more than 4,000 years ago. While the most well-known festivity is the colorful parade in Lower Manhattan's Chinatown, other Lunar New Year events in Flushing, Sunset Park, and Staten Island should not be overlooked. Embrace the Year of the Pig, the 12th zodiac animal said to signal good fortune, with lantern decorating events, dumpling and noodle-making classes, traditional dance and song, and sparkling firecracker ceremonies.
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Events & Things To Do

Rendering of 126th Street facing north; image courtesy of NYCEDC

January 18, 2019

City’s plans for Willets Point include a soccer stadium and affordable housing

City officials have released long-awaited plans to develop the blighted Willets Point section of Corona, Queens. As 6sqft previously reported, the economic development site within the industrial neighborhood east of Citi Field known as the Iron Triangle was at one point slated for a cleanup of its toxic soil and the creation of affordable and senior housing that would replace a jumble of auto shops and industrial businesses. Finally surfacing almost four months after a task force submitted suggestions to the Econonmic Development Corp. (EDC), the plans contain two development scenarios including a soccer stadium and mixed-use scenario that includes residential development, retail and a school.
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December 6, 2018

New York State Pavilion to receive a $16.5M FEMA grant for Hurricane Sandy repairs

Designed by Philip Johnson for the 1964-65 World’s Fair to embody the architectural essence of Space Age futurism, the New York State Pavilion has been battered by the ensuing decades to the point of becoming valued as an "historic ruin." As 6sqft previously reported, plans to restore the site have been progressing slowly even with new funding from the city. Now, Curbed reports, the iconic site in Flushing, Queens, will be getting a $16.5 million grant from FEMA for Hurricane Sandy-related repairs.
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Architecture And Design

Willets Point from Citi Field. Image: Wiki Commons.

September 18, 2018

Could affordable housing plans for Willets Point be scrapped for airport construction parking?

The city and developers have filed preliminary plans to pave a 6.5 acre stretch of city land for 665 parking spots, Crains reports. The economic development site within the industrial neighborhood of Willets Point, in Corona, Queens also known as the Iron Triangle was slated for a cleanup of its toxic soil and the creation of affordable and senior housing, plans which resulted in the demolition of a cluster of small businesses.
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August 31, 2018

Upcoming walking and bike tours explore NYC’s historic and hidden waterways

Being the concrete jungle it is today, it’s hard to believe New York City was once a maritime powerhouse, its surrounding harbor waters serving as a vital trading port for the rest of the country. Before paved over and developed, Manhattan boasted forests and wildlife, supported by many freshwater ponds and streams. Today, some of the city's oldest waterways remain hidden in plain sight, their pathways relegated underground. NYC H20, a nonprofit who aims to educate New Yorkers about the city's water, is hosting five walking and bike tours of historic waterways throughout the month of September, giving New Yorkers a chance to get their feet wet with knowledge about NYC's water.
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Waitlist opens for 400+ middle-income units near Flushing Meadows Corona Park

Via Paul VanDerWerf on Flickr

August 8, 2018

Waitlist opens for 400+ middle-income units near Flushing Meadows Corona Park

A lottery to get on the waitlist for more than 400 moderate-income units launched this week across a few rental buildings in Forest Hills, a residential neighborhood of Queens. The buildings, located at 62-27 108th Street, 108-53 62nd Drive, and 110-01 62nd Drive, are being developed by Phipps Houses, a major developer of affordable housing. The buildings sit nearby Flushing Meadows Corona Park, home to the Queens Museum, New York Hall of Science, Citi Field, and the Arthur Ashe Tennis Stadium. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 100 percent of the area median income can apply for the apartments, which range from a $1,462/month studio to a $2,170/month three-bedroom.
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Affordable Housing

Queens shows how diversity is driving NYC’s economic boom

Elmhurst’s Chinatown. Image: Wiki Commons.

August 7, 2018

Queens shows how diversity is driving NYC’s economic boom

Recent economic snapshots issued by the state comptroller show that New York City has continued to experience record economic expansion in the past three years. This growth has been led by notable gains in the economies of Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx (Staten Island's report is expected later this year), which since the 1990s have seen an economic boost from a large increase in their immigrant populations, Crain's reports. The revitalization of these immigrant-rich areas has led to an uptick in the number of businesses as well as sales and job growth. Unemployment is at its lowest rate since 1990. Queens, the borough that is home the city's most diverse population and becoming more so, is clearly one to watch.
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City Living

Image: NYC Design Awards.

July 2, 2018

With funding and plans, revamp of Philip Johnson’s New York State Pavilion moves slowly forward

Designed by starchitect Philip Johnson for the 1964-65 World's Fair to embody the architectural essence of Space Age futurism, the New York State Pavilion, has, in the ensuing decades, become what amNY called a "hulking 54-year-old relic of the World’s Fair," though it has never lost its modernist cachet and has gained value as an historic ruin of sorts. Recently, talk of restoring the pavilion beyond its current inglorious purgatory slowly appears to be moving toward actual plans with funding attached. City officials and preservationists have secured $14 million for specific repairs and improvements to the pavilion.
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Architecture And Design

Lottery opens for 231 affordable units at Flushing’s new mixed-use development

Rendering via Monadnock Development

June 28, 2018

Lottery opens for 231 affordable units at Flushing’s new mixed-use development

Three-and-a-half years ago, the Department of City Planning enlisted Monadnock Development to build a mixed-use project in downtown Flushing, Queens. Located at 133-45 41st Avenue and dubbed One Flushing, the development has 22,000 square feet of retail space, along with 232 all-affordable apartments, nearly 40 percent of which is set aside as supportive senior housing. Including low- and middle-income units, the lottery for these residences has just opened, ranging from $548/month studios to $2,302/month three-bedrooms. In addition to being just around the corner from the 7 train and adjacent to the Flushing-Main Street LIRR Station, the building offers a 156-space public parking lot, 24-hour attended lobby, laundry room, bike storage, tenant lounge and terrace, fitness center, and rooftop garden.
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Affordable Housing

The intersection of Kissena Boulevard and Main Street in Flushing. Image: Wikimedia Commons

June 14, 2018

Take an insider’s tour of Flushing’s ethnic food at the Flushing’s World Fair this weekend

Flushing, Queens is a dining destination for serious foodies and fans of any of a cornucopia of authentic Asian and Indian delights; from June 15-17, you can sample the international cuisine with discounts and a tour to help you with the highlights; the Flushing's World Fair is a three-day expo that brings together the businesses, cultural institutions and historic landmarks of the diverse and dynamic community.
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June 12, 2018

3 middle-income units up for grabs in a quiet section of Flushing in Queens, from $1,700/month