Permits have been filed for a five-story mixed-use building at 185-23 Union Turnpike in Fresh Meadows, Queens. Located at the intersection of 186th Street and Union Turnpike, the corner lot is closest to the Main Street subway station, serviced by the 7 train.
The proposed 75-foot-tall development will yield 43,595 square feet, with 35,949 square feet designated for community facility space for an ambulatory health center and 7,646 square feet for commercial space. The steel-based structure will also have two cellar levels, a 31-foot-long rear yard, and 156 enclosed parking spaces.
Citiscape Consulting LTD is listed as the architect of record.
Demolition permits were filed this month for the one-story mixed-use building on the site. An estimated completion date has not been announced.
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The closest subways would be the trains on Queens Blvd and not Main St., Flushing, which would be nearly twice the distance. NY Presbyterian has moved some of its activities from its main building to this area as has Northwell.
Closer still if they would ever build the obviously justified Hillside extention. Plans called for a station at 188 St.
I grew up on the other side of Horace Harding Blvd 1950s – 1960s (LIE). I immediately said to myself that the Independent is closer; I’d take either the IRT or Ind depending upon where I was going in the City. Additionally, the 179St end opened soon after the War. Proposals to extend the line out to Francis Lewis, or even farther to Little Neck Pkway, never went anywhere because the LIRR paralleled the route, which was a drop off point for NYCTA buses and those that crossed the City line from Nassau Co.
This is ultimately a problem with the low ambition culture of the MTA which views rail transit miles apart passing through dense capture areas as redundant – which is obviously absurd. It wouldn’t surprise me if a Hillside extension added 40,000 additional F train riders a day. And without question it would ease the transit commutes of eastern Queens riders. It’s exactly the kind of expansion that literally any other first world city would have accomplished if not 75 years ago, certainly would be an absolute priority. New Yorkers have become so accustomed to the low ambition/low expectation culture of the MTA they think it’s normal. It ain’t.
That area is what your Open New York and Transportation Alternatives cult freaks would call a “transit desert”. The only feasible way to commute there is a car. And once again, this building will not be affordable and even if the 20% was affordable, people wouldn’t live there unless they work in the area and that’s not a guarantee.