Tower Diner Closes As Disputed Luxury Building Plan Moves Ahead

REGO PARK, QUEENS — A beloved Rego Park diner served up its last order of burger and fries this weekend.

Tower Diner has operated at 98-95 Queens Boulevard, in a former bank building with a distinctive clock tower, since 1993. On Sunday, however, the family-owned business permanently closed its longtime storefront and moved its menu to its nearby sister restaurant, Dinerbar, as a developer prepares to turn the large lot into a 15-story apartment building.

News of the diner's last day sparked outrage among a group of Forest Hills and Rego Park residents, who've long decried the development project since it would entail demolishing several small businesses and a historic theater-turned-synagogue.

"Another landmark is gone. Going to be an ugly building," wrote one neighbor on a Facebook thread about the diner's closing, which garnered hundreds of comments and likes.

"Too many people, too many cars," she added, echoing a concern raised at a recent Community Board hearing that construction will prompt more people to move to Rego Park and increase neighborhood traffic and parking issues. One neighbor linked Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi," a song that's been adopted as an anti-capitalist, anti-development anthem.

Another local, who used to eat breakfast at the diner with his late wife almost every weekend, is disheartened to see the business close. "I know they will still be in the neighborhood, but nothing will replace the location," he wrote.

Many other neighbors said that they're grateful they can still order takeout from the "Tower at Dinerbar" menu, but will miss Tower Diner's iconic building. One local took it a step further: "Never was a fan of the food but sucks to see the building go," he wrote.

Michael Perlman, a Forest Hills resident whose taken an active stance against the development, popped up throughout the Facebook thread, encouraging neighbors to send letters of opposition to local politicians and sign on to an anti-development petition, which has raised 3,800 signatures so far.

In one comment he suggested that a neighbor help find a "very wealthy individual to buy out the developer." In another he tagged Tower Diner's owners, encouraging them to fight the "heartless developer as much as possible. It is not fully approved and he is throwing you out. The ULURP is not even complete," he wrote.

Since the developer's plan requires a zoning change, construction does depend on the city's lengthy land use review process, known as ULURP.

The process kicked off with Community Board 6, which hosted a hearing earlier this month and will vote on a recommendation next week. The board's vote, however, is not binding.

Once the board votes, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards will review the plan and offer a yes or no recommendation, before the city's Planning Commission and City Council make the final decision.

Related Article: Neighbors Protest Disputed Luxury Building At Hearing: Report