Two developers have pledged to spend $850 million on Flushing
Commons,
a 600-unit, 420,000-square-foot commercial space in Queens, the
current site of a five-acre parking lot in one of the city’s busiest
commercial strips, according to the New York Times. Developers TDC
Development and Construction, and Rockefeller Group
Development were chosen in 2005 by the city, which sees
the project as an opportunity to cash in on a thriving area. But local
opponents are criticizing the project, which is slated for completion
in 2013. On one side are Chinese immigrants whose businesses lie
largely out of sight of the planned construction zone and who are
supporting the local developer, TDC’s Michael Lee. On the other side
are Korean immigrants whose stores are clustered around the lot –
bordered by Union Street, 138th Street and 37th and 39th avenues — and
fear that construction will disrupt their businesses. A city council
subcommittee is scheduled to vote on the project at a public hearing
tomorrow and the full council is expected to do so by the end of
the month, the first time the Council will vote on a development since
it rejected Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s February plan to plan to convert
the former Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx into a mall. 

[NYT]

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Hachette Filipacchi, the publisher that recently lost out to beauty giant Avon in talks to take over several open floors at the William Kaufman Organization’s 777 Third Avenue, is reportedly closing in on a deal at the 48-story Time-Life Building at 1271 Avenue of the Americas in Rockefeller Center. The contract would be for 132,000 square feet of space previously occupied by Lehman Brothers, which had subleased the three floors from Time Inc. Hachette would be downsizing significantly from its current 263,010 square feet at 1633 Broadway, which is owned by Paramount. Deloitte is also expected to vacate 1633 Broadway soon, in a move that could leave the door open for television network A&E. Currently located at 235 East 45th Street, A&E is in the market for 350,000 square feet of space and is rumored to have looked at the Empire State Building and Worldwide Plaza in addition to Paramount’s building. [Post]