Downtown Flushing gets a new YMCA, 156 apartments and an amphitheater
Construction has started on Flushing Commons Phase II, which pairs an 18-story residential tower with a 63,000-square-foot YMCA, offices, shops and open space.
Downtown Flushing broke ground Wednesday on the second phase of Flushing Commons, a mixed-use project that pairs apartments with a new YMCA, offices, shops and public space. The developer, F&T Group, held the groundbreaking with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC).
What Flushing Commons Phase II will include
At the center of the plan is an 18-story residential tower with 156 units, along with amenities and commercial and community space. The project also calls for 132,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 123,000 square feet of offices and an amphitheater.
A new YMCA covering 63,000 square feet will run health, fitness and community programs year-round for residents of every age. The timing matches a milestone, since the Flushing Y marks its 100th anniversary this year. Sharon Greenberger, who leads the YMCA of Greater New York as president and CEO, pointed to that overlap.
F&T Group says the development is meant to combine community, recreation and walkability and to answer the neighborhood’s pressing need for large open spaces. Downtown Flushing is the city’s fourth-largest business district and one of its most crowded, transit-connected areas, and demand for mixed-use projects there remains strong. Maxim Capital Group is financing construction.
F&T Group and the city on the Flushing project
The project continues three decades of building in the area for F&T Group. The company was one of Flushing’s earliest major developers, and its portfolio now totals 8 million square feet across residential, office and retail uses. Its executive vice president, Helen Lee, called Flushing “a neighborhood with tremendous energy, opportunity and potential.”
For the city’s development agency, Anthony Shorris, its president and CEO, credited the partners who made the project possible. He said the groundbreaking brings Downtown Flushing closer to much-needed housing, new open space and a new YMCA. When it is finished, Flushing Commons is planned to become a new business and civic hub for the neighborhood’s residents, workers and visitors.
Quick answers
What will Flushing Commons Phase II include?
An 18-story tower with 156 residential units, a 63,000-square-foot YMCA, 123,000 square feet of offices, 132,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, and an amphitheater.
Who is building Flushing Commons Phase II?
Developer F&T Group, working with the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Maxim Capital Group is financing construction.
