Blumenfeld backs out of 160K sf retail store in Jamaica

Blumenfeld Development Group bowed out of the contract to bring a 160,000-square-foot retail store to Jamaica, Queens — which would have been the neighborhood’s first major department store in decades.

A little less than three years ago, Blumenfeld and the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation announced that they had signed an agreement to turn two parking lots at 168th Street, near 90th Avenue, into a store and a parking garage with 550 spaces.

By late 2014, Blumenfeld said it was looking for an anchor tenant for the $50 million retail complex and was talking to several big retailers like Target and BJ’s Wholesale, DNAinfo reported.

However, the contract between the two was recently terminated, Hope Knight, the president of the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation, told DNAinfo.

“There were a number of milestones that had to be met and for various reasons were not able to happen,” she said.

The corporation will issue a new request for proposals this spring.

Blumenfeld spokesperson Raffaela Petrasek told DNAinfo that Greater Jamaica changed the scope of the project and the developer is “waiting to see what is required in the new RFP.”

Last year, the developer increased the size of the complex to 265,000 square feet and would also have affordable housing. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration pushed for the inclusion of affordable housing, DNAinfo reported. [DNAinfo] — Dusica Sue Malesevic