NEW YORKERS & CO.; Bringing Downtown to the Waterfront

By Vivian Toy

Timothy Chuang shakes his head as he considers how different life might have been had he bought one of the rundown buildings on Main Street in Flushing, Queens, 20 years ago, when he first arrived in this country.

''I wish I knew at that time to buy property because I'd be a rich guy now,'' he said. Instead, he works behind the counter at his Chinese herb shop, New York Tong Ren Tang, in a rented Main Street storefront. In the early 80's, Mr. Chuang said, the building would have gone for around $100,000. Now, he said, it might sell for more than $2 million. Local realtors say property values in the area have soared since the late 70's, with many Main Street buildings carrying price tags of $1 million or more.

Once bedraggled and full of vacant storefronts, downtown Flushing has been gradually transformed over the last 20 years into a bustling retail mecca catering to the neighborhood's growing Chinese and Korean immigrant communities. ''Flushing is one of the most vital new commercial locations in the city,'' said Joseph B. Rose, the chairman of the City Planning Commission. ''But from population and economic perspectives, it's bursting at the seams.'' Planners and local officials say development has also sometimes mixed new with old in a disjointed way.

In September, after a process that took nearly a decade, the City Council approved a new master plan for Flushing that aims to channel development into former manufacturing zones and prevent more jumbling.

City planners say they eventually expect more than 1 million square feet of new commercial and residential development, including more than 1,000 housing units, in an expanded downtown, with businesses near the waterfront and public walkways leading right to the water's edge.

While the former manufacturing zone along College Point Boulevard and to its west is dominated by auto repair shops and warehouse space, the opening of Home Depot three years ago, on Avery Street, spawned other home improvement retail businesses nearby. Korea Town Plaza, a 100,000-square-foot food market at 39th Avenue and College Point Boulevard, opened in 1994 amid concerns from some Korean store owners that its size and discount prices would hurt their businesses.

Now some downtown business owners in Flushing say they have mixed feelings about the newly zoned area because they are worried about competition from businesses that are expected to open there.

''Of course it's good if you can develop more of Flushing,'' Mr. Chuang said. ''But for our business, we don't really like the changes because we want more people to stay around here and shop.''

Sam Oubaita, the manager at Gold Expo, a jewelry store on Main Street, said he also feared new development might hurt business. But then he considered the state of College Point Boulevard. ''That area is dead, even scary,'' he said. ''I guess I hope it will help things over there.''

With more than 20 bus lines converging at the intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue, as well as the Long Island Rail Road and the No. 7 subway line from Manhattan, Flushing has long been a transportation hub. But its downtown went into decline in the 1970's as the community's population aged and the city's economy weakened.

In the late 70's, though, Chinese and Korean immigrants started buying property. ''The vacancy rate was tremendous until Asian money started coming in, and it's been wonderful for our downtown,'' said Marilyn Bitterman, the district manager of Community Board 7.

But development became increasingly haphazard as more and more exceptions to zoning laws were granted. Office towers went up above traditional two-story business strips, and single-family homes were razed for condominium towers. Officials worried that the development, which was all taking place east of College Point Boulevard, would destroy the character of Flushing.

''Handsome houses were being destroyed so they could put up cracker boxes,'' said City Councilwoman Julia Harrison. ''And there was no concern at all about the quality of life in the community. It was just build, build, build.''

In 1991 Mrs. Harrison commissioned a study of development in Flushing, the first step toward the master plan. Over the years, the proposed plan underwent extensive community review. Though it met little opposition, it did stir up some simmering tensions between the Chinese and Korean communities.

While Chinese and Korean businesses can be found alongside one another throughout Flushing, Korean businesses tend to be concentrated east of Main Street and Chinese businesses to the west. Some Korean business owners feared that the new commercial area would benefit the Chinese community while doing nothing for them.

Sung Soo Kim, president of the Small Business Congress of New York City, which includes hundreds of Korean businesses in Flushing, expressed concern that new development would merely spread downtown traffic congestion to a different part of town.

Mr. Rose, however, said that by channeling growth into a larger area, the zoning changes should eventually help ease some traffic problems that plague downtown streets.

Mr. Kim also warned that some of the former industrial land could be contaminated, but city officials said that tests have shown no serious environmental concerns and that developers would be responsible if any cleanup was necessary.

And he and Sang K. Kim, a spokesman for the Korean American Association of Flushing, said they were concerned that development by the river would bring in more discount superstores. ''Our main concern is what type of businesses will be set up there,'' said Sang K. Kim. ''Big discount businesses might hurt a lot of the Korean businesses.''

But Jimmy Meng, president of the Flushing Chinese Business Association, said that Chinese business owners see the new master plan as a boon to the area. ''There's no place else to expand to,'' he said. ''So now this is the only chance for opportunity. We think it's good news to this community.''

Stanley J. Markowitz, vice president for leasing for the Muss Development Company, one of the biggest developers in Queens, said there is ''huge demand'' for retail space in Flushing.

Muss, which owns a 14-acre tract on the river including a former Consolidated Edison headquarters that now houses some light industry, is planning to convert the space into large retail stores and may build apartment towers.

''We certainly have already received a lot of inquiries on our site,'' Mr. Markowitz said.