Bourbon Street Owner To Build Housing, Shops At Donovan's Lot

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Contrary to Joni Mitchell's classic song lyrics, a parking lot in Bayside is being paved over in order to make way for new buildings.

In Dec., Joseph Donovan, the original owner of Donovan's of Bayside, sold a parking lot across the street from his once-restaurant to another neighborhood business proprietor, who is now planning to build residential and commercial buildings on the lot, records show.

The lot's new owner is one of the proprietors at the nearby eatery Bourbon Street, according to the restaurant's general manager, Lara; she confirmed to Patch that one of Bourbon Street's owners is "involved" with the new construction project, but it is unrelated to the restaurant.

"Bourbon Street is not expanding in any way, we are not moving locations, we are staying where we are," she said.

Lara did not expand on what the owner is planning on building in the lot, other than confirming that it will be a mix of "residential and commercial properties."

A document filed in Oct. shows a tentative site plan for the lots including one building with a retail store and another with an "ambulatory diagnostic" site, which is an outpatient medical clinic.

Lara, however, said that the buildings' final forms are "undecided" at the moment. The timeframe remains up in the air, too, she said: "There is no timeframe at this time, it's just in the initial stages."

The general manager at Donovan's, Elaine, told Patch that the sale came as a surprise from her.

"We used to lease [the lot] from [Joe Donovan], and when we went to renew it over the pandemic he had sold it," she said.

The sale was finalized at the end of last year to the tune of $4.25 million dollars, records show.