RKO Theater Condos' Height Risky To Planes, Politician Fears

FLUSHING, QUEENS -- A luxury condo tower slated to replace the abandoned RKO Keith's Theatre is facing backlash after a state politician claimed its developers weren't transparent about the risks it poses to planes landing at LaGuardia Airport.

On Monday, State Assemblyman Ron Kim penned a letter to the FAA asking the agency to re-evaluate the safety of the 16-story condominium tower posed by Xin Yuan Real Estate.

Kim wrote that Community Board 7 had initially supported the 210-foot skyscraper, despite it exceeding federal height regulations, based on an FAA study that supposedly deemed it non-hazardous to LaGuardia's air traffic. But Kim said he learned the developer only submitted eight singular coordinates of the project for FAA approval, not the entire building.

"While the eight obstruction evaluations were for single, independent coordinate points, they were deceptively presented before the local Community Board in my district as justification for a planar top building with a height 210 feet above sea level," Kim wrote in his letter to the FAA's Cheif Counsel Officer Jerome Mellody.

FAA regulations limit the heights of buildings near an airport to 195 feet. Anything taller warrants an FAA study on its potential hazards to air navigation. Kim requested a new FAA review of Xin Yuan's posed condominium tower that would evaluate the "consequences of building a singular, planar structure at the given height" rather than just the eight height points submitted.

"The goal was just to make sure the community gets the proper information to make their evaluations," Eric Meyer, Kim's communication assistant, told Patch. "[Hopefully] The FAA will take another look at the evaluations and check to make sure the submissions were done properly."

Representatives from Xin Yuan Real Estate were not immediately available for comment.

Given that airplane noise is already a problem in the area and the luxury condo is directly in line with flights landing at LaGuardia, the new information could change the minds of some community leaders, Meyer said.

The luxury condo skyscraper has become a hotbed for controversy among Queens locals since it was announced earlier this year that it would replace the long-abandoned RKO theatre at 135-35 Northern Boulevard. At the center of that controversy has been Forest Hills resident Richard Thornhill, whose petition to save the theatre has garnered nearly 3,000, signatures, Patch previously reported.

The RKO, which has housed performances from stars like the Marx Brothers, Judy Garland and Connie Stevens since it was built in 1928, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Representatives from Xin Yuan Real Estate previously told Patch the company would preserve the theatre's landmarked ticket lobby and grand foyer but planned to demolish the remains to make way for its condominium skyscraper.

That wasn't good enough for Thornhill, who said he believed the entire theatre had potential to be saved and converted into a performing arts venue again. He sprang into action, creating the petition along with a Facebook group to round up other locals who wanted to save the RKO.

Led by Thornhill, several members of that Facebook group met with Kim to prove developers' FAA approvals may have been deceptive, Meyer said. Among them was Christian Kellberg, a chemical engineer who has vocally opposed the RKO Theatre's demolition alongside Thornhill.

He hopes the latest revelation will keep Xin Yuan Real Estate from building skyscrapers in the theatre's place, and deter other developers from seeking out the location.

"That in and of itself should prevent them from getting any building permits," Kellberg told Patch. "If it ever goes back to the community board, we could contest it and suggest alternate solutions."

He said the building's proximity to air traffic plays into an airplane noise issue that has long plagued the community, which he hopes is enough to keep other developers from wanting to build residential skyscrapers directly in the path of planes constantly departing and arriving.

"If you're never going to get there with condos, what can you do?" Kellberg said. "It could be a profitable performing arts center. There's lots of examples where that's been done.

Kellberg pointed to support garnered for Thornhill's petition to back his claim.

"These petitions, they come and go, but this has gotten a lot of traction very quickly," he said. "That you could get that number of signatures in three weeks on anything, is remarkable. It kind of taps into the pent up public sentiment that's out there for this theatre."

Lead image via Google Maps.