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By 2008, the Western entry point to Downtown Flushing will be transformed into an enormous residential and commercial complex, bringing 1,000 apartments and 725,000 square feet of retail space to a 14-acre brownfield site on the banks of the Flushing River.

The $600 million project will be located on the site of a dormant Con Edison facility at the intersection of College Point Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue. The heavily polluted site was used for fueling operations and transformer maintenance, development officials said, and will undergo a clean-up plan supervised by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation before construction begins.

The Muss Development Corporation, a family-owned firm based in Forest Hills, controls the former ConEd site, which affords sweeping views of Shea Stadium, parts of Flushing Meadows Corona Park and the run down industrial area known as the Iron Triangle. The company has executed other major development projects in Queens, including the renovation and expansion that produced the Flushing Plaza office building.

Word of the major development plan emerged after a breakfast meeting between Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Queens Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, where the mayor was given a ceremonial key to the business community. In statement released by Muss, Bloomberg praised the project as the realization of his economic strategy to create jobs in all five boroughs. “This project helps fulfill that mission by transforming an under-utilized brownfield into a magnificent retail and housing development,” he said.

For Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), the thousands of jobs created by the project stand out as a major benefit to the local community. “We need more jobs in Downtown Flushing,” Liu said. “The bottom line to me is that right now it’s a dirty site and with the implementation of this plan it will become a clean site - clean enough for people to live and work and shop there.”

According to a statement, development officials expect to generate 5,000 temporary construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs. Liu said he was assured that Flushing residents would be given priority for the new jobs.

For the retail dimension of the mixed-use projects, two anchor tenants have already committed to 300,000 square feet of the available space. A spokesperson for Muss declined to name the retailers, citing a company policy to reveal specific information only after construction has started.

Shopping areas on the site are slated to open by fall 2007, Muss officials said, with the first phase of residential apartments opening in spring 2008. The apartments will be located above a three-level retail base, with a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units divided among six residential towers.

The developer will also create 55-foot waterfront esplanade along the Flushing River and parking spaces for 2,650 cars.

There is no firm information on the inclusion of affordable housing units in the development project. David Stearns, a spokesperson for Muss, said, “They are going to be participating in a program to make some affordable.”

But Borough President Helen Marshall, who praised the project, expressed concern that no substantial affordable housing would be included. “My only regret [is that] I know that housing is going to be market rate,” she said. You cannot build affordable housing without subsidies.”