After eight years of hemming and hawing, TDC Development and the Rockefeller Group have filed a Department of Buildings application for a permit to begin work on the $850 million Flushing Commons project.
The move comes just under the wire of a deadline for breaking ground. The first round of work would lay the foundation for the project’s first phase, which includes the construction of 160 residential units and 350,000 square feet of commercial space.
The project has long drawn the ire of Flushing’s Community Board 7, which says the developers and the city have held back information on the project, which has floated around in various stages of approval since 2005.
The project nabbed the City Planning Commission’s approval back in 2010, after which point it went myseriously silent.
“After the city gave them the go-ahead, we never heard from them,” Eugene Kelty, chairman of the community board, told Crain’s. “I think they should have had either a semi-annual or quarterly meeting [with us].”
The Rockefeller Group declined to comment to Crain’s, and the New York City Economic Development Corporation and TDC Development did not respond to requests for comment. [Crain’s] — Julie Strickland