A Look Back on a Troubled Developer's Work Throughout Flushing

Queens Chronicle takes a look at the work of the infamous developer Tommy Huang, a controversial figure who started working in real estate back in 1979 until he was banned last June. His first Flushing project was the construction of a five-family house, followed by high-rises around Queens Boulevard and throughout Flushing. The first controversy erupted in 1982, when after a bank refused to sell him a site off Main Street, a Molotov cocktail was thrown into a restaurant there and destroyed several properties. According to the Chronicle, “Soon after, Huang increased his bid on the location and the property was sold. He said he did not know anything about the bomb.” He is well known as the former owner of the landmarked RKO Keith’s Theater (pictured), which he purchased in 1986. The city issued him a stop-work order after partially bulldozing the staircase to turn the theater into a mini mall. In 1990, a fire was set inside the locked theater, but ultimately no charges were filed. Ten years after the purchase, in 1996, the city arrested Huang and put him on probation after they found heating oil emanating from two 12,500-gallon tanks in the theater. The theater has sat vacant for more than 20 years, although it now belongs to a new owner.

Huang’s problems didn’t end with the RKO Keith’s Theater: he faced lawsuits for unsafe conditions and damage to adjacent property at a project in Bayside, the city fined him for safety violations in 2011 after a construction worker died on his Elmhurst project, and the city banned him from selling condos after failing to pay common charges on unsold apartments at the Flushing Tower Condominium. He was finally banned from construction and real estate for at least five years last June, after he and his wife plead guilty to developing and selling units in the Broadway Towers condos. They were sentenced to pay a whopping $3,300,000 from illegal profits and another $1,500,000 in penalties.

Huang Broke the Law as Rogue Developer [Queens Chronicle]

Photo via Wikipedia