The World’s Fair arrived in Flushing Meadows Park in 1939 and brought about the elimination of the Corona dumps, dubbed the “valley of ashes” by F. Scott Fitzgerald in “The Great Gatsby.” Twenty-five years later, the New York Mets celebrated the opening of Shea Stadium in the Willets Point neighborhood. Four decades later, massive development is finally taking shape in the area, which boasts a waterfront and the Flushing River and is home to more than a half-million people who speak 109 different languages among them.

In February 2004, the New York City Economic Development Corporation solicited proposals for the redevelopment of a 5.5-acre site at Union Street between 37th and 39th avenues in the heart of downtown Flushing. The site is the largest the city owns. Within days, the city received 13 responses from developers around the country.

Last week, the city announced that a joint venture named Flushing Commons LLC – comprised of Flushing based TDC Development and Construction Corporation and the Rockefeller Group – were selected for a $500 million project. According to industry insiders, the joint venture is paying about $100 million for the site. The project includes plans for the following:

* a 1-acre town square with a fountain plaza

* 570,000 square feet of below-grade and enclosed above-grade parking for 2,000 cars

* a 50,000-square-foot recreational center

* a 120,000-square-foot business class hotel with meeting rooms and banquet facilities

* about 650,000 square feet of luxury residential space for about 650 residential units, with 20% of the units age-restricted and marketed to seniors

* 350,000 square feet of retail with local and national retailers, including a supermarket, shops, restaurants, and a multi-screen cinema

* 20,000 square feet of space for community or cultural tenants

* 60,000 square feet of public open space and 15,000 square feet of space for small businesses.

The major investor in this project is Apollo Real Estate Advisors L.P. TDC Development has been active in the redevelopment of Flushing since the city decided to rezone downtown Flushing west of Main Street. These projects include Prince Center and office buildings, Flushing Mall and Sanford Tower, an apartment building.

In addition to the Union Street development, the city and Queens Borough President Helen Marshall worked with the Macedonia African Methodist Episcopal Church, located on the eastern edge of the site, to acquire a half-acre parcel north of the church. The church plans to build more than 100 units of affordable housing and street-level retail.

A few blocks away sits a 14-acre brownfield site owned by the Muss Organization. In February, the Muss Development Organization announced plans to build a $600 million mixed-use development on a site at College Point Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue that the company has owned for more than two decades. When completed, the site will have 800,000 square feet of retail space, six condominium and rental buildings with about 1,000 units, a 2,600-unit parking facility, and a 55-foot-wide esplanade along the Flushing River. The site will include a Target store and Home Depot.

On the waterfront, real estate investor Sam Suzuki and his partners at the Vintage Organization will be constructing the Flushing Promenade, a gated community of 400 condominium residences. Units are projected to be sold for $525 per square foot.

Later this year, Shaya Boymelgreen of Boymelgreen Development Company will begin the redevelopment of 3,000 seat RKO Keith theatre located on Northern Boulevard at the end of Main Street across from the Northern Boulevard Bridge. Plans call for a 19-story mixed-use complex of retail, valet parking for 233 autos, community space, commercial, and condominium apartments, including the restoration of the landmark grand lobby of the historic movie theater. The developer received overwhelming approval for the redevelopment by the community board, one year after it had unanimously rejected his original plans for the site. The scaled site will have approximately 200 condominium units projected to sell for about $650 a square foot.

South of the Boymelgreen development on Main Street, developer and real estate investor Michael Lee plans a 12-story glass-and-granite retail and office building on the site of the Queens County Savings Bank. On another site on Northern Boulevard, a building that previously housed a Sears will be demolished for another mixed-use development.

The former site of the 26-acre Flushing Airport will be developed into a wholesale center for about 180 small businesses and importers. The Economic Development Corporation selected a consortium of Korean business owners to develop the site. The new owners plan to spend $175 million for a two-story, 585,000-squarefoot warehouse complex.

Industry leaders often say Flushing is one of the most vibrant, dynamic areas in the city. It is served by the no. 7 subway line and home to the busiest subway station outside of Manhattan. The 7 line stops at Main Street, where commuters can travel to Grand Central Station in only 30 minutes. The Long Island Railroad is adjacent to the Main Street subway, and 11 MTA and private bus lines run to the Main Street station. Direct bus service links the area to La-Guardia Airport.

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The vice president of the Muss Development Organization, Jason Muss, said, “The confluence of local business, local expertise with tremendous outflow of foreign capital, from the fastest growing and potentially largest economy of the world. Capital from Taiwan and Hong Kong flowing in will continue to make Flushing a vibrant marketplace.”

The managing director and principal at Apollo Real Estate Advisors L.P., Richard Mack, said, “We believe strongly in the prospects for investing in the boroughs of New York City, and that Flushing is one of the most vibrant and dynamic areas in the entire New York metro area.”

The chairman of the retail leasing and sales division at Prudential Douglas Elliman, Faith Hope Consolo, said: “As the largest urban center in Queens, Flushing has potential to become a premiere retail corridor. Flushing is the next Forest Hills.”

And the president of Muss Development Organization, Josh Muss, said, “Development can take 20 to 30 years for a project to come to fruition.” Timing is everything, and, finally, the combination of these new developments, the proposed new stadium for the Mets, redevelopment of Willets Point, and the waterfront will only help Flushing and the city.