The Rockaway Beach Branch LIRR tracks and the High Line

Queens residents have renewed efforts to turn old Rockaway Beach Branch Long Island Rail Road tracks into an outer borough version of the High Line, the New York Daily News reported.

The tracks, which run above street level for 3.5 miles from Rego Park to Ozone Park, have been out of service for nearly 50 years, and have already become overrun with trees and vegetation.

“It’s green, yet it has economic development opportunities,” said Andrea Crawford, chairwoman of Community Board 9, who met with city officials to discuss preliminary plans for the transformation. [more]

Richard LeFrak

The LeFrak Organization will redevelop a 13-story office tower in Rego Park into 108 luxury rental apartments, according to the Wall Street Journal. The project marks a return for the developer to the city, where it said it would no longer build because of the rising costs of construction. In fact, it’s the company’s first project in the city in 28 years.

The office building was constructed 50 years ago by LeFrak Organization CEO Richard LeFrak’s father, Samuel LeFrak, during a time when the developer was building housing geared towards the middle-income residents of the borough, most notably nearby LeFrak City. [more]

One of the allegedly targeted buildings at 99-45 67th Road in Rego Park and DA Richard Brown

(Updated 3:10 p.m., July 13)
A former managing agent for a collection of five Queens apartment
buildings has been charged with embezzling almost $950,000 in
tenant-paid maintenance fees, according to the Queens district
attorney’s office. The defendant, Michael Richter, and his company,
Charter Management Realty, allegedly siphoned off the cash over a
six-year period, concealing his scheme behind a lock- [more]

One of the allegedly targeted buildings at 99-45 67th Road in Rego Park and DA Richard Brown

(Updated 3:10 p.m., July 13) A former managing agent for a collection of five Queens apartment buildings has been charged with embezzling almost $950,000 in tenant-paid maintenance fees, according to the Queens district attorney’s office. The defendant, Michael Richter, and his company, Charter Management Realty, allegedly siphoned off the cash over a six-year period, concealing his scheme behind a lock- [more]

From left: the Free Synagogue of Flushing, the Astoria Center of Israel, and the Rego Park Jewish Center

Three Queens synagogues on the national and state registers of historic places will be ceremoniously inducted this morning at the Queens Borough Hall. The three sites, which were placed on the registers earlier this year, Rego Park Jewish Center, Astoria Center of Israel and the Free Synagogue of Flushing, were inducted based on their historical, architectural and cultural significance, according to a press release from the New York Landmarks Conservancy and the Preservation League of New York State. All three synagogues were built in the first half of the 20th century, with the oldest, Astoria Center of Israel, built in 1925-26. Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, who plans to attend the ceremony today, said in a written statement that preserving the synagogues is essential to the neighborhoods. “They are distinctive living memorials that now have a new chapter written into their history,” Marshall said. “The listing of these synagogues on the national and state registers of historic places is proof of their enduring value through generations and helps ensure their future on our borough’s landscape.” TRD

[more]

The New York City Industrial Development Agency has granted preliminary approval for incentive packages for the expansion of two industrial companies in Queens. The program would give Dinas Distribution Corporation and PA Austin sales and real estate tax incentives valued at up to $1.5 million and $1.2 million, respectively. The NYCIDA, which the New York City Economic Development Corporation oversees, said that the two groups would create 45 new jobs immediately and around 20 more over the course of three years. The two projects will also generate around $7.4 million in tax revenue in the next 25 years, according to a statement from the group. “These two companies are perfect examples of the types of companies the NYCIDA was created to assist,” Seth Pinksy, NYCIDA chairperson, said. TRD [more]

Prosecutors are investigating contractor Bovis Lend Lease for allegedly
overbilling for five projects the company worked on, including Citi
Field, the Sept. 11 Memorial, demolition of the Deutsche Bank tower,
the New York University Medical Center and a mall in Rego Park. A
source told the Daily News that investigators are looking into Bovis
allegedly inflating bills by putting in hours not worked or adding
overtime that wasn’t justified. The investigators also want to know
about the firing of Bovis employee Brian Aryai, a former U.S.
Department of Treasury agent who was hired as a senior vice president
of finance and controller at Bovis, whose job included conducting
internal investigations of fraud. [more]

They may be pricey but the Upper East Side and Upper
West Side are still the most popular places for home buyers to check
out, according to a Post analysis of data from the Real Estate Board of New
York’s Web site. Since Jan. 1, user searches on ResidentialNYC.com show that
the next three most popular areas are the West
Village, Harlem
and Lincoln Square.
Brooklyn’s most popular were Park Slope, Bay Ridge, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Sheepshead Bay
and Prospect Heights. In Queens, the top five were Forest
Hills, Jackson Heights,
Rego Park,
Astoria and
Douglaston/Little Neck. The most popular in the Bronx
were Spuyten Duyvil, Throgs Neck, Riverdale, Parkchester and Jerome Park. Staten
Island’s most popular neighborhoods were Tottenville, Great Kills, Rossville, Arden Heights
and Mariners Park.