Flushing businesses bemoan affordable housing project to no avail

Despite overwhelming support from local officials, the planned Macedonia Complex in Queens continues to anger Flushing businesses because it lacks parking, the New York Daily News reported. BRP Companies and Macedonia African Methodist Episcopal Church closed last month on a $49.6 million loan to begin building a 14-story, 143-unit affordable housing development on a parking lot at 37-08 Union Street. Not only does it eliminate existing parking for customers the 150 or so shops that line Union Street, but it also fails to include any replacements.

“Everything’s just going to be very, very hard,” said Ikhwan Rim, president of the Union Street Small Business Association. “If people can’t find a parking space, why would they want to come here?”

But the small business owners are earning little sympathy from elected officials, as the development is part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s initiative to create and preserve 165,000 affordable housing units by mid-2014. The only remedy they’re offering is the promise of a new 1,600-spot underground parking lot that’s set to arrive when Flushing Commons gets erected. But that project hasn’t made progress since Rockefeller Group received approval for it two years ago. [NYDN]