Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst has become the center of the neighborhood’s construction boom, as developers try to cater to the growing immigrant communities in eastern Queens. And one developer has filed plans for a 10-story residential building with retail and community facilities at 70-40 45th Avenue, just off the major 12-lane artery.
Yesterday’s new building applications call for a 102-foot-tall development between 70th and 74th streets, in an area criss-crossed by freight tracks and LIRR commuter trains. The building would have 94 apartments divided across 87,734 square feet of residential space, offering average units measuring 933 square feet. The apartments will probably be two- and three-bedrooms geared toward families.
Those apartments would be stacked on top of 10,875 square feet of retail and 9,800 square feet of community facilities (likely medical offices) on the first two floors. The building would also hold a 95-car garage, which would fill the cellar and parts of the first two floors.
Overall, the complex will span 108,441 square feet. It’ll fill an oddly-shaped development site that stretches through the block from 45th Avenue to Queens Boulevard, but the footprint doesn’t include the corner lot where the two roads meet. The assemblage encompasses several tax lots, including a car dealership and a car wash.
Henry Lam’s Flushing-based King’s USA Group is developing the project, and Lam & Lam Engineering, headquartered in North Corona, applied for the permits. King’s USA picked up the 23,410-square-foot site for a combined $13,500,000 in July and August of 2015.
Lam appears to be involved in a few large construction projects in Flushing, including the controversial and long-abandoned RKO Keith’s Theatre.
Developer JF Equities picked up the historic movie house on Northern Boulevard and Main Street in the summer of 2014. Then they announced plans to redevelop the site into a 17-story condo tower, while preserving the landmarked ticket booth and lobby on the ground floor. However, gutting the old theater has been a very slow process. Not much has changed since Brownstoner visited the site over a year ago.
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