2006 Queens Business Book

If you have ever taken a drive into downtown Flushing, chances are you are well aware of the five-acre, two-tiered parking facility known as Municipal Lot 1.

It exists one block east of the bustling Main Street, footsteps from the 7 train and one subway stop from Shea Stadium.

The 1,101-space Muni-metered parking lot is owned and operated by the City Of New York. In 2005, Municipal Lot 1 brought in $2.5 million in parking revenue.

It’s convenient location borders Union Street, 37th and 39th Avenues and 138th Street. The lot’s upper level offers extended 12-hour parking permits. Street level parking is priced at 25 cents for every 15 minute parking period and is valid up to three hours. The 109th Precinct also uses a number of the lot’s spaces for police vehicles.

Although the lot may sound appealing to any Flushing traveler, the city sees it as underutilized and bad for the area’s economy. In 2005, after several major developers put in their offers, it was sold.

Now owned by the TDC/Rockefeller group, a $500 million investment has been allocated for the site. The property still needs to go through a public review process for it to be developed, but Mayor Bloomberg and several of Flushing’s elected officials have already hailed their anxious approval.

According to the site’s Environmental Impact Statement provided by the city’s Economic Development Corporation, Flushing Commons, as it will be called, has been drafted as a mixed-use project containing residential, commercial, retail, community facility and hotel uses. It will also include a multi-level underground parking garage and an approximately 1.5-acre town square style publicly accessible, but privately owned open space.

The site’s public review portion will include rezoning the site, a special permit for the parking garage and its designation as a Large Scale Development. The development will also need a special permit to allow the heights of its buildings to exceed the standard for properties in proximity to major airports.

The parking garage has been proposed to include nearly 1,000 more spaces than the current lot occupies. Four high-rise buildings will accompany the lot from above and could reach up to 18 stories high.

The five-year construction period is expected to bring in 2,000 construction jobs and 2,000 more when the project is completed. The developer has also promised to kick in millions of dollars for area businesses’ hardships and the city has also said it could give some tax breaks.

Despite the efforts, however, opposition to the plan has continued to grow. Small businesses located in sight of the property claim it will be their demise. The main issue that opponents have fought hardest about is that parking is already a major problem in the area and a lengthy construction period, which could displace parking to Shea Stadium and other underutilized areas, would drive away local customers.

Local business owners have argued that if the site is developed, parking needs to be increased by as much as 2,000 more spaces than proposed – for a total of about 4,000. This new fight has emerged on the heels of a city Economic Development Corp. report that recommends eliminating 300 street parking spots along Main Street and Union Street to accommodate vehicular traffic. Though the EDC has approved the Flushing Commons concept, significant changes to the project could occur well before any steel gets set in the ground.