Residential, Commercial and Hotel Development Promise Big Changes for Jamaica

Is Jamaica on its way to becoming a NYC destination in its own right? The Commercial Observer seems to think so, in a piece published yesterday afternoon. Since a rezoning in 2007, a neighborhood primarily known as a transit, airport and shopping hub is now attracting developers. As Commercial Observer says, “There are a number of multimillion-dollar development projects in the pipeline in the vicinity of Jamaica’s bustling Long Island Railroad and AirTrain stations,” due to readily available lots that are zoned for development and priced well. There’s the $225,000,000 mixed-use building at the corner of Sutphin Boulevard and Archer Avenue that will hold 400 apartments, as well as the Norman Towers, a $32,000,000 mixed-use affordable project opening this summer. As for hotels, Able Management is expected to break ground this fall on a $35,000,000, 210-room Hilton Garden Inn hotel. Blumfield Development Group is also building out a department store on 168th Street between 90th and Jamaica Avenues.

With all this enthusiasm, what’s to become of Jamaica? Carlisle Towery, president of the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation, doesn’t think it’ll be like Long Island City or Downtown Brooklyn. In the end he sees potential in the solid middle class living in the neighborhood, a high college-educated population in the area, Jamaica’s transit assets and $3.7 billion worth of unmet consumer demand within a 3-mile radius of downtown.

The Tide is High: Jamaica, Queens Could Become a Destination in its Own Right [Commercial Observer]

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