8 No progress on Lowe’s project at Douglaston Plaza
QUEENS WEEKLY, JAN. 20, 2019
BY MARK HALLUM
Get in or get out of the
way, one real estate developer
is saying to Lowe’s
Home Improvement,
which has been slated to
open at Douglaston Plaza
for months.
From the outside, nothing
has changed at the location
formerly occupied by
Macy’s and MovieWorld in
Douglaston Plaza months
after Community Board 11
approved the renovations
at a February 2017 meeting
that would eventually allow
Lowe’s Home Improvement
to do business in the
shopping center.
Alexander DiMopoulis
from East Coast Realtors
claims to have a
big-box client interested
in space who is looking
to move into the space,
but claimed that building
owners, Ashkenazy Acquisition
Corporation, is
being tight-lipped on what
seems to be the hold up the
renovation for Lowe’s.
“I can’t even get the setup
to give my client any information
on the property,
they’re interested,” DiMopoulos
said.
He added that there is
currently a “for rent” sign
on the property though this
has not been confirmed
and apart from a September
2018 complaint there
has been no other action
on the city Department of
Buildings’ website for the
address.
Jon Popin, an attorney
with Duane Morris, which
represents Ashkenazy Acquisition
Corporation, argued
at the February 2018
CB11 meeting that it was
paramount for the variance
allowing Lowe’s to
move into Douglaston Plaza
to prevent the shopping
center from turning into a
ghost town.
Representatives for
Duane Morris and Ashkenazy
did not immediately
respond to a request for
comment regarding an update
on the renovation.
But the only way Lowe’s
could utilize the space formerly
occupied by Macy’s,
which shuttered in December
2016, would be if the
footprint of the store was
expanded to consume the
neighboring business: MovieWorld.
The theater closed
last July.
Popin said the variance
came with the support of
Douglaston Townhouse
Condominiums Association,
which worried that
property values would drop
with an adjacent shopping
center in decline.
“We didn’t know how
this would play out because
this is going to be a newbuilt,
large format hardware
store coming almost
into their back fence,” Popin
told TimesLedger in a
July interview. “They were
very concerned with Macy’s
going out and Macy’s
being really the main anchor
— the only anchor —
at the shopping center that
if Lowe’s didn’t come in and
no one else really wanted
to, that it was really going
to become a darkened site
and affect their property
values ultimately. Maybe it
was economic reason that
drove their support more
than friendly neighborliness,
but both of the issues
were definitely at play.”
The space in which Macy’s
operated was 157,000
square feet, but Popin said
that Lowe’s needs 250,000
to operate. The BSA granted
a variance allowing for
a 15,000-square-foot extension
of the sub-cellar,
which was approved in
March 2018.
At the February 2018
Board 11 meeting in which
the advisory body approved
the variance, those in favor
argued that the nearest
large hardware store was
10 miles away while opposition
gave passionate testimony
to how important the
movie theater was to the
surrounding communities
offering the cheapest prices
in the city.
With five years still on
its lease, MovieWorld owner
Russell Levinson said
their contract with Ashkenazy
included the right of
the shopping center to buy
them out, which paved the
way for MovieWorld’s closure
last summer.
An overhead view of the Douglaston Plaza Shopping Center.
Courtesy of Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation