This weekend, the transformation will be complete.
The old Gallo Wine warehouse on Northern Boulevard in Long Island City will reopen as a
huge Marshall’s clothing store. Just one more step in Queens’ transformation
from a land of warehouses and factories to a home of commercial centers and high-tech
industry.
Home Depot is looking into taking over the now-defunct Ronzoni
Factory, and the Dayton Hudson Corporation is eyeing the proposed College Point
Entertainment Complex – soon to be created out of the College Point Industrial Park
– for its first Target outlet store in New York City.
Then, there’s the story of Telebeam Telephone Systems, which
turned an abandoned 30,000-square-foot Long Island City warehouse into corporate offices
for their state-of-the-art telecommunications company.
The change has been gradual, but clearly evident – the ranks of
the heavy manufacturers, which used to employ huge numbers in Queens, are dwindling. Soon,
the Swingline Stapler factory, which for most of this century has been a familiar site for
anyone coming home across the Queensborough Bridge, will shut its doors. But the space
will then give way to a new shopping facility or high-tech industry.
While Queens Borough President Claire Shulman found out long ago
that it was impossible to stop these general economic trends, one of her main goals is to
control the process as much as possible: protect workers, lobby to bring in new types of
industry and encourage new stores while at the same time protecting existing retail
establishments.
"We have to create an attractive environment," Shulman
said. "If businesses want to come here, we need to find space."
To help with this, Shulman has appointed a director of economic
development, Seth Bornstein.
"The trend is toward smaller manufacturing," Bornstein
said. "For example, Crystal Windows up in Flushing. They are a small business that
grew into a much bigger business."
Shulman, and her staff, work not only to bring more jobs in, but
also to promote the growth of existing businesses. That’s the goal of the new Queens
Economic Development Networking Council.
Started last year, the Networking Council is a regular gathering of
representatives from city and state agencies and the borough’s large business
providers. "For example, when a company comes to us with a water bill problem, we
work with the Department of Environmental Protection. If they need funding, we work with
the city’s Economic Development Corporation," said Bornstein.
One of the greatest recent success stories Bornstein attributes to
the Networking Council is the September decision by Eagle Manufacturing to keep its 1,000
manufacturing jobs here in Queens. "We worked with Eagle to enable them to take
advantage of city and state programs that will reduce their taxes and give them funding
for job training," he noted.
In addition to the Networking Council, Shulman’s office has its
eye on several key economic development projects that will bring both jobs and money into
Queens’ economy. Among them:
