City officials and developers broke ground yesterday for Rego Park Center, a large shopping and residential complex going up in the shadow of Lefrak City and several stores.
The new retail center will include Home Depot, Century 21 and a Kohl's department store as well as several smaller shops.
And it will have a lot of company.
It's being built on the old Alexander's parking lot, bordered by the Long Island Expressway and Junction Blvd., just off 63rd Drive.
Across the street, Sears, Old Navy, Bed Bath and Beyond and Circuit City sit in the former Alexander's building.
Even though the massive Queens Center Mall is just down the road, city and local officials didn't appear concerned by the concentration of shopping centers in the already dense area.
In fact, Mayor Bloomberg was eager to show some competition with the mega shopping malls of Long Island.
"If we get the state Legislature to eliminate the city portion of the sales tax on clothing and footwear - something that we have asked them to do - we may just have to make one of the eastbound lanes on the LIE westbound instead so we can handle all the extra shoppers who will be streaming in here from Nassau and Suffolk counties," Bloomberg cracked during the groundbreaking ceremony.
The new complex, being developed by real estate giant Vornado Realty Trust, also will include a residential building with 400 apartments.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn credited Councilwoman Helen Sears (D-Jackson Heights) with securing a key piece of the development - a 2,500-square-foot community room.
Some local merchants are worried that the large stores will draw away their customers. But the project has won the support of Queens Community Board 6.
"The bottom line is, it's a good thing for the neighborhood," said Board 6 district manager Frank Gulluscio.
"That property has been vacant for a long time. Nobody wants to see empty property. Traffic is a concern, but traffic is a concern everywhere in the city."
