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| Photo by Michael Perlman |
It's funny - I spent the afternoon in Williamsburg yesterday and as we walked around that amazing 'hood and experienced the miracle of urban renewal that it is, the conversation of course eventually turned to Forest Hills. And one of the things that came up was how the car dealer across from the Forest Hills Jewish Center location would make an awesome site for redevelopment for shopping, a condo, what have you. "What is a car dealership and garage doing in the middle of a prime New York City neighborhood?" we were pondering. And then I hear this news today...
Great. More unchecked business expansion in the neighborhood. Sweetheart deals to developers that will bring in masses of non-residents to crowd and dirty up Austin street. Yay. Do you hear the excitement in my voice? Because there is none. Why is there no larger guidance plan?
ReplyDeleteI can understand your concerns and then you go and lose me completely with the "masses of non-residents" remark. You talk about Forest Hills as though it is some small hamlet out in Iowa suddenly being invaded by newcomers. It's part of New York City. Every neighborhood in New York City is constantly in hyper-flux with new residents moving in and old residents moving out every single day. Odd perspective.
DeleteThere are many 'this is my turf' losers in Forest Hills. Get a life -- younger people, with more money, and better education are moving into Forest Hills since they rather spend their money on Entertainment and Eating rather than Manhattan RENTS -- GET OVER IT or move to Kansas!!!!
DeleteA) I'm still pretty young B) I make plenty of money C) I have a strong connection to the classical arts, and high-end entertainment and food and D) Forest Hills can be a sprawling mass of caca from the shitty drive-by people and businesses.
DeleteI'm happy we have some hipsters. Station House is a very welcome addition instead of another dress store featuring the latest slutty fashions of eastern Slovakia. I love we have live concerts at the tennis courts (especially since I live on the north side of Queens Boulevard). I'm happy about all the new things that represent QUALITY to the neighborhood. But we don't need more space for C level food and shops by redeveloping spaces like the synagogue and the car lot. We have C level spaces in spades, with tons of C level people to match, especially weekenders.
Bareburger? YAY! People who think Bareburger is fancy? BOO. Danny Brown's? Double YAY! People who think Metropolitan Avenue is somehow the East Village of Queens? Huh? And entertainment!?! Is there something besides the single remaining movie theater that only shows big budget, blah films in a space slightly less sticky and dirty than an old 8th Avenue porn house? Just months ago the movie house on Metropolitan was begging people to come so they wouldn't lose their first-run status. The tastes of "new residents moving in," are apparently pretty trashy. Though I'd like it, we ain't no Williamsburg. And I guess we never will with all you "younger people, with more money, and better education" that don't realize you have cheap beer taste. If that space is being redeveloped, I'm almost certain it's going to be something crappy because there is NO PLAN for better things in Forest Hills, just MORE crappy things.
Been in the works for 10 years. Too large, too old, too expensive building & location being swapped for new building and new location.
ReplyDeleteTheir congregation has been dwindling for the last decade. Would be interesting to se what happens to the senior center. I also agree that the Car showroom, maintenance garage, Key Food and the vacant space next to it would be prime space for a Whole Foods. Parking, truck deliveries would be no problem . When will someone see the potential in this gold mine of property? I can picture the entire layout. It would be spectacular!
ReplyDeleteInteresting, inasmuch as the Karate joint on the top floor (where I do cardio kickboxing) is halfway through a large expansion from about a quarter of the top floor to the whole top floor. I wonder if they knew about this beforehand or not.
ReplyDeleteIn theory, I think this could be amazing. In practice, I am worried about this mass scale development. I am not confident that FH will be the site of Williamsburg-esque style development with nice retail like Whole Foods or a home goods store like West Elm for example. While younger families seem to be moving to the area (a good thing), I have not yet seen the critical mass needed to ensure strong community input for a great project or the community demand for high end retail. Developers will throw up whatever they can get away with and rent commercial space to yet another drug store or bank. Another reason I am disappointed is that FH will lose the Jewish Ctr. I lived in Park Slope for several years and was involved with the reform congregation there - a similarly large institution with a nursery school and old bldg. They hosted regular book readings, concerts, and were super involved with the community. They drew hipsters and grandparents.. I feel like FHJC has that potential - to be a sort of JCC - but has not organized itself that way. Missed opportunity... I hope they can at least keep the pre school active in whatever development happens.
ReplyDeleteI think that our local pols in FH don't have any vision for urban renewal. They seem like good ppl but not willing to take on bold ideas. BP Katz talks about Queens as a destination and the Lonely Planet ranking but her biggest contribution to the Queens urban renewal landscape so far is lighting the World's Fair Pavilion. So what??? How does that benefit anyone in Queens except for supplying some sort of nostalgia factor. Local pols need to look at retail and development with a more critical eye and support some bolder ideas. The QueensWay can't even get off the ground even after all the cool architectural designs were shown in the paper. FH actually has office bldgs on Queens Blvd - what about trying to attract some start-ups who need cheap rent or founding an incubator? I think those blds have a lot of vacancy. Once those kinds of initiatives can get off the ground, even on a small scale, then the neighborhood will see change. A few concerts at the tennis stadium and the Aston are nice, but they don't really constitute visionary urban change.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, it's not another urgent care center - or worse, an urgent care center that gets 10% built and then condemned.
ReplyDeleteThose of you fantasizing about the car dealership location better not hold your breath - they are undergoing complete renovation NOW.
ReplyDeleteInstead of condos and stores it's time for a cultural center like "Flushing Town Hall" or "BAM"
ReplyDeleteJust like all of the development going on in Queens, I see another residential tower. Not sure how tall of a building the zoning laws allow on this site, but I can see more apartments with ground floor commercial and maybe a a community space. Seems to be the trend going on now with developers. High demand and quickest way for a developer to get returns. Everyone getting priced out of the city and Brooklyn are coming over to Queens. Soon Queens will no longer be affordable, including FH. Once more "younger/wealthier" people are here, more businesses will decide to come also. Simple formula.
ReplyDeletePerhaps developer talks is in reference to this article on page 4 of the FHJC newsletter?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fhjc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Jan-Feb-2015-Message.pdf
Thanks for the link. If you want a say about the property, you need to become a member of the Center.
DeleteI think you have to be Jewish in order to become a member, which means I cannot join or have a say about the property or utilize it's facilities. If I'm wrong please let me know. I would love to be able to use the pool there.
DeleteYou don't have to be Jewish to use their facilities. We currently have our child in baby swim class
Deletebeing a member of the congregation and using the facilities are probably separate types of memberships. It's not inexpensive to be a member of the congregation (neither is a recreational membership). Not sure if they are open to congregational memberships for other religions, but if you are serious, you should inquire.
Delete1) I agree with the commenter below that the "stuck in the 1960's and WILL rip you off Key Food" + adjacent vacant space is just BEGGING to become a Whole Foods.
ReplyDelete2) Does anyone know the deal with the vacant lot on the south side of Austin? A while ago I looked up the property and it was supposed to be an 8-story mixed-use building, but was stalled due to violations. But it's bizarre that it hasn't even been turned into a formal parking lot to pay off property taxes in the meantime, which is usual procedure until something can be built?
3) As much progress as Williamsburg has made, I still feel like its success is tenuous and the neighborhood is not well-rounded enough to survive should the economic pendulum swing the other way. Forest Hills may not be cutting edge, but it is a much more solid and cohesive neighborhood that is mostly maintaining its integrity while slowly moving into the future.
Drake, great find! My window looks at this site, so I'm eager to learn more. I tried to join the center to use its pool, but you have to be Jewish. I was able to take swim classes there. --DW
ReplyDelete