The only block in Forrest Hills with designated outdoor dining may soon be extinct, according to a proposal heard at Queen’s Community Board 6 meeting on Wednesday night. The plan would demolish seven restaurants along "Restaurant Row," which stretches along 107-18 70th Road just off Austin Street, and replace them with a seven-story development.
The mixed-use development would include both residential and commercial properties, with a promise from developers that in a few years, they'd welcome restaurant tenants back to the space.
“I spent over $600,000 on that restaurant and now it’s going to be gone,” Oleg Kaz, the owner of The Grill on "Restaurant Row," told the board. “Developers say that they’re going to bring restaurants back, but it’s not going happen.”
Kaz did acknowledge that his lawyer had advised him against signing a lease on the block, as the lease included a clause that the landlord could break the lease if he wanted to build.
“It’s not going to just kill restaurant row. It’s going to kill the neighborhood.” said Nico Bernuth, who serves on the Board of Directors at the adjacent Lane Towers. “This will mean 3 superstructures on a 1-lane street.”
Although developers have yet to file an official proposal with the Department of Buildings, they showcased a sketch of the development to a packed room of locals. Community anxiety is already high due to traffic congestion and parking issues in the neighborhood, which will likely worsen after the opening of a Target in July.
“It’s as of right. They don’t need our cooperation for seven stories,” Frank Gulluscio, who serves as district manager of CB 6, told the crowd.
A rendering of the proposed development (Gothamist)
Resident Walter Weiss cited concerns over potential job losses associated with the restarant closings, and read from a Change.org petition to save Restaurant Row which, as of Wednesday night, had reached 1,123 signatures.
Cheers of “Go Walter!” rang from the audience, which seemed to be geared up for a fight. Restaurant Row currently includes neighborhood favorites The Grill, Cabana, and Aged, among others.
The proposed zoning for the new development is currently set at seven stories (roughly 70 feet)— shorter than the 120-foot luxury condominium, Lane Towers, which sits next to Restaurant Row. The development would also include a single-story unit. Developers, however, plan to seek a special permit from city officials in a few months to expand the tower to 12 stories, which some residents say would block one side of Lane Towers.
“It’s a great place to raise children, but our quality of life is really going to be hurt," Jill Halpert-Steingart, who lives in Lane Towers, told the boardmembers.
The development does include a proposed green roof, which Adam Rothkrug, an attorney for the developers, mentioned to the audience.
“[The green roof] is an amenity to the tenants and it’s more attractive to the neighbors, in higher buildings, who are looking down,” he said in a statement which was met with eye-rolls.
A date has not yet been set, but the board members will meet again in a few months to vote on an extension of the proposed tower to 12 stories.
