The Flushing Commons will be developed on a site known as Municipal Parking Lot 1 in the Downtown area here. The project, which is expected to create 2,000 construction jobs as well as 2,000 permanent ones, includes approximately 500 residential units with 20% marketed to seniors, a business-class hotel and 350,000 sf of retail space for local and national retailers, restaurants and a multi-screen cinema. There will also be 20,000 sf allocated for community/cultural space, 15,000 sf for small professional businesses and a one-acre town square of open space with a fountain plaza. Parking for 2,000 cars with short-term parking at below market rates in response to community requests is also part of the effort. There will also be 50,000-sf recreational center.

The JV's major investor is Apollo Real Estate Advisors LP. The project will incorporate low-impact development techniques and green building technologies. "This site has been part of my daily life for the past two decades," said TDC Development and Construction Corp. chairman and CEO Michael Lee. "For years we have prepared blueprints for Flushing's improvement." Rockefeller Group president and CEO Jonathan D. Green adds that the project "represents a way to realize many of the city's goals for the development of Downtown Flushing."

The JV was selected for this project as a result of a Request for Proposals issued by the EDC based on recommendations made by the Development Framework for Downtown Flushing that regards the Downtown area, the Flushing River waterfront and Willets Point as a coherent whole. It also outlines a land-use planning strategy for strengthening the entire area as a regional center. Other Flushing-area projects in various stages of development include Muss Development Co.'s affiliate CE Flushing LLC $600-million mixed-use project on a 14-acre brownfields site. A Request for Expressions of Interest for development of Willets Point is now in the final stages of review. Other projects involve pedestrian and park improvements.