Standing at the corner of Mott Avenue and Beach 21st Street, residents and visitors can hear things like, “I think this is a complete eyesore” and “It’s really deplorable.”
These folks on the street are talking about the old shopping center across the Avenue that is now being demolished.
"It was just a parking lot," another man said.
Workers are demolishing the long time eyesore in downtown Far Rockaway, a horse shoe shaped strip mall that sat mostly empty for decades. The old sign on the front harkens back to a time when it was flourishing, more than 30 years ago.
"Most of the stores disintegrated or they moved," one man said.
It’s the first thing you see as you exit the Mott Avenue Train Station towards the end of the A Line, and the last thing you want to see.
City Council Member Donovan Richards calls it the "Nightmare on Elm Street," a reference to the 1984 Wes Craven horror flick.
"People shouldn’t have to feel unsafe, and I think that this sight has invited to this community," he said.
This dark end, though leads to a new beginning. When the large lot is fully flattened, Rockaway Village will rise. It will have eight buildings, between four and 18 stories, with retail on the ground and residential units above.
Phipps Houses is a driving force behind the development called Rockaway Village.
"The project will serve families coming out of the homeless shelters with very little income to families making a more moderate income to a family of four pulling in $100,000," said Matthew Kelly, vice president with Phipps Houses.
The first phase will bring more than 450 units of affordable housing. Eventually, after five phases, there will be 1,700 units, all affordable.
Phipps Houses is a not-for-profit that has been developing and managing affordable houses since 1905.
"All of us here at Phipps see this as one of the most important projects we'll work on in our lives," Kelly said.
“We are really writing the next chapter for the community,” said Maria Torres-Springer, the commissioner of NYC Housing Preservation and Development, or HPD.
Torres-Springer says the city is putting up more than half of the $200 million investment for the first phase. It’s the first major affordable housing project under the 2017 rezoning of the area.
"As part of the rezoning, we committed to more than $250 million," Torres-Springer said. "That is to facilitate the development of the Far Rockaway shopping center site, but for new streets, new libraries, for a new plaza, the types of services that are needed in the community."
The first phase of Rockaway Village is planned for completion in 2021. The developer hopes to finish all the apartments and the 100,000 square feet of retail by 2026. Each of the 1,700 apartments will be awarded through lotteries.
