Luxury Housing Could Replace Rego Park Synagogue's Historic Home

REGO PARK, QUEENS — A Queens developer is seeking the city's approval to build a 16-story luxury residential building on the triangular lot that houses a historic, Art Deco theater.

Bayside-based development group RJ Capital Holdings applied in June for a rezoning of the Queens Boulevard site so it can move forward with the development, records show.

The application, first reported by the Forest Hills Post, needs to be certified by the Department of City Planning and will then be subject to public review.

The 170-unit building would include at least 50 affordable apartments and commercial space on the ground floor, RJ Capital Holdings Principal Michael Abramov told Patch.

On a neighborhood Facebook group, some Forest Hills and Rego Park residents have already started protesting the development, which would entail demolishing the historic Trylon Theater.

The theater, which dates back to 1939, is now occupied by the Ohr Natan Synagogue.

Abramov said his development group told the building's current tenants of the redevelopment plans years ago and that the new building would include a synagogue.

"We advised each one of them our plans to redevelop the site many years in advance so that they can find a temporary location for their businesses and eventually have the opportunity to return back to the property," Abramov wrote in an email.

The site is also home to Tower Diner.

While Tower Diner's general manager told the Forest Hills Post he didn't know about the rezoning application, Abramov said the diner's owners are "fully aware" of the redevelopment plans and that they would be welcome in the new building.

"This project will provide a new supply of residential rentals in a neighborhood that would only benefit from such," Abramov wrote. "We are from the community, we serve the community, and hope to continue to be able to do so."