Lefferts Boulevard Bridge Businesses Primed For New Management

KEW GARDENS, QUEENS — The businesses that line the historic Lefferts Boulevard Bridge are primed for another shakeup in their years-long fight for survival.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Oct. 16 will send out its formal request for a new master tenant to renovate, lease and operate the 13 storefronts that call the nearly century-old bridge their home.

The 25-year lease will come with a mandate to make a series of "long-sought" building upgrades, the MTA said. Proposals are due by Dec. 15.

Though the subleases for the nine businesses that currently occupy space on the bridge expired on March 31, the MTA said it guaranteed them the right to stay through the end of the year.

After that, it will be up to the newly-selected master tenant to negotiate future leases for the buildings.

“This is a significant leasing opportunity, but it’s also an opportunity to play an indispensable role in a tight-knit community by managing and maintaining a set of properties that locals have many times described as a beloved community focal point," Janno Lieber, president of MTA Construction & Development, said in a statement. "We are confident there are highly qualified firms that will be able to execute and – with the full support of the MTA – turn this set of stores into an even greater and more sought-after place to do business."

The bridge, which crosses over the Long Island Rail Road tracks in Kew Gardens, dates back to the 1920s.

The MTA had mulled plans to demolish the crumbling crossing, which officials argued was likely beyond repair, but backtracked on the plans after weathering intense community opposition and instead invested $1 million into structural repairs.

Those repairs covered two concrete and steel platforms that abut both sides of the roadway's bridge but not the outdated superstructure the stores are built on, which was managed by an outside company, according to the New York Times.

But Zee N Kay Management, which held the master lease on the bridge until the MTA terminated the agreement last year, was not obligated to repair those bridge components under its license agreement.

The new master tenant "will be responsible for performing physical renewal work to the buildings, and ensuring they remain in good condition," the MTA said in a news release.

Lieber, the MTA's chief development officer, said, "Make no mistake: It will be a challenge to perform to the high standards demanded by the MTA and the people of Kew Gardens."