Western Queens Business Zone Gets $100K Boost
By Adrienne Gaffney February 10, 2015 10:48 am
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A $100,000-plus investment into the Western Queens industrial business zone was announced by City Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer, Council Member Antonio Reynoso and Long Island City Partnership President Elizabeth Lusskin yesterday.
The money, which will increase funding from Long Island City Partnership by 25 percent, will go towards the Industrial Business Zone program, which provides resources and financial assistance for Long Island City’s industrial and manufacturing firms, helping them navigate the process of obtaining financing, tax credits and abatements which will allow them to remain in New York.
The Western Queens district is home to businesses like streaming music service Songza, 3D printing service Shapeways and digital design studio Krate. The Council cited the example of Creative Engineering, a design and fabrication firm whose 10,000-square-foot space was flooded by Superstorm Sandy. Emergency loans that Long Island City Partnership helped secure allowed the company to avoid shedding employees.
The announcement was made at the Falchi Building, a 1922 warehouse which now tries to draw “companies seeking creative work environments in close proximity to Midtown and Brooklyn,” according to the building’s web site.
“Long Island City is a true city within New York City, with 2,100 industrial and manufacturing companies and 39,500 employees producing everything from cupcakes to concrete, printed t-shirts to 3D printing –and our companies provide the goods, services, and jobs necessary to keep the economy growing,” Ms. Lusskin said in a prepared statement. “Today, the Industrial Business Zone program is more important than ever, as through it we help these companies stay and grow in Long Island City, and buildings such as Jamestown’s Falchi Building, by connecting them with everything from incentives, financing, energy efficiency, and workforce training, to helping them with permits, potholes and parking.”
