Curtis Sliwa Joins Fight Against Disputed Rego Park Luxury Condos

REGO PARK, QUEENS — Curtis Sliwa is joining the fight to save a historic theater-turned-synagogue and beloved diner in Rego Park.

On Monday evening the former mayoral candidate, and once-Forest Hills resident, went Facebook live in front of Tower Diner, one of several historic storefronts at 98-81 Queens Boulevard that might be demolished in order to build a 15-story luxury building.

Sliwa, who described the development as a "15-story monstrosity," said that construction would only happen "over my dead body. I may have lost for the mayoralty, but I'm engaged in this battle with all of you," he added.

The failed mayoral candidate said that the development would prompt more people to move to Rego Park, thereby increasing traffic and parking issues in the area. "What do they need more people here for?" he rhetorically asked.

Sliwa repeatedly said that the building is an example of upzoning, which he described as building a tall building "in the middle of an iconic block like this."

Upzoning is the process of changing zoning codes in order to build taller and denser housing, which some housing advocates recommend as a way to tackle the affordable housing crisis. Others, however, oppose the process, saying that it furthers displacement.

Anti-development sentiment also commonly comes from neighbors, some of whom use the language of "preserving neighborhood character" a veiled way to oppose low income housing.

Neighbors in Rego Park have long decried the luxury building proposal, saying that the storefronts on the lot should be preserved and that construction will block air and light and increase traffic and congestion.

A petition to stop the demolition cites neighborhood character, and small business preservation, as reasons to oppose the development plan. The petitions has raised over 3,700 signatures as of Tuesday.

Despite community pushback Rudolf Abramov, of Bayside-based development group RJ Capital Holdings, said that the building will bring much-needed housing to the neighborhood.

He pointed out that fifty-one, or 30 percent, of the building's 170-units would be listed as affordable housing, due to the city's Mandatory Inclusionary Housing policy — a welcome addition in a neighborhood with a "huge demand" for rental apartments, Abramov said.

He also told Patch that the building will welcome back all current tenants into its ground floor once construction is complete.

Construction, however, depends on the city's lengthy land use review process — known as ULURP — because RJ Capital Holdings' plan requires zoning changes.

A public community board hearing last week — which elicited neighborhood pushback — was the first step of this process, but the community board's recommendation is not binding: the recommendation will then be reviewed by the Queens Borough President, who will issue another recommendation before the city's Planning Commission and City Council make the final decision.

A final decision is usually made seven months after plans are certified by the city, which in the case of the 98-81 Queens Boulevard rezoning happened in mid Oct.