Retail Rising in Queens

FLUSHING, NY-It’s full steam ahead for plans to revitalize this Queens neighborhood. Working with the city’s master plan, Muss Development Co.’s affiliate CE Flushing LLC is designing a mixed-use project on a 14-acre brownfields site that is expected to cost approximately $600 million to realize.

Submissions are due in mid-March for plans to revitalized the 48-acre Willets Point area. According to a spokesperson for Muss, the plan will complement and not compete with plans for the Willets Point area. Last summer, the city revealed a preliminary framework for revitalizing the Downtown community that calls for improved transportation facilities and a connection to the waterfront. According to the New York City Economic Development Corp., the ultimate goal of the plan is to create an expanded Flushing core, with the river linking Downtown to Willets Point and creating a cohesive whole. Possible uses for the site, according to the EDC, include an entertainment district, a regional retail center, a hotel and conference facility, amusement and recreation as well as office, industrial, park and residential developments.

The 3.2 million-sf Muss initiative includes a 725,000-sf retail center and approximately 1,000 residences. New York City-based Perkins Eastman is designing the project. Acco Retail tenants already have committed to more than half of the total net space available. According to a Muss spokesperson, two anchor tenants who both already have multiple locations in New York City have committed to 300,000 sf. The retail shopping areas are slated to open in the fall of 2007 and the apartments will follow in the spring of 2008.