By Howard Koplowitz
A Queens lawmaker says the community has been blindsided by a proposal from the Floral Park-based Indian Cultural and Community Center, which now owns what had been state land on the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center site, to acquire more property there at a deep discount so it can build two nine-story apartment buildings.
State Assemblywoman Barbara Clark (D-Queens Village) and state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans) are backing the plan, but Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) and civic leaders are incensed over the proposal, saying the group had been deceptive.
The bill has been held up in the Senate after Smith received backlash for his endorsmeent of the proposal, according to the New York Post.
E-mails sent to Koshy Thomas, one of the center’s founders, went unanswered.
Civic leaders and Avella are questioning how the center, which was operating at a $20,000 loss, according to its 2009 tax records, can come up with the funding for the additional land and remediation efforts since the property has a defunct power plant and underground diesel tanks.
The cultural center paid $1.8 million in 2010 for a portion of Creedmoor land that was valued at $7.3 million.
It was unclear how much the additional parcel is worth.
“We have big questions as to why this organization, which has a deficit from [2009], is able to get property worth $32 million,” said Community Board 13 Land Use Chairman Richard Hellenbrecht.
CB 13 Second Vice Chairwoman Angela Augugliaro said the group only told her about its plans for the apartment buildings, which it said would be used for senior housing, recently.
“I don’t like the way the communities are being deceived,” Augugliaro said. “They say one thing and they’re doing another. They have no credibility in our eyes because they’ve lied to us, they’ve misrepresented to us.”
Augugliaro said the group told her earlier it only planned to build a one-story cultural center with an athletic field and a parking lot — a proposal that she said the community could tolerate.
“We’re against nine-story apartment buildings,” she said, noting that there are smaller homes near the proposed site.
Avella said Clark lobbied him to support the bill in the Senate, but he refused because he “wasn’t comfortable” with the plan.
“It’s just not a Indian cultural and community center,” Avella said, referring to the apartment buildings. “I was led to believe it was a one-story cultural center.”
Avella also had suspicions about how the group could fund the proposal since it has no funding source.
“How does a group with no money all of a sudden acquire property from the state?” he asked.
Avella said the group could not answer him when he asked how they could come up with the money.
The senator said he would be asking the state attorney general’s office for a “full investigation,” including how the group acquired Creedmoor land in 2009.
“The group has no apparent financial resources and certainly lied to me and the community,” he said.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
