Flushing's Helen Lee of F&T Group on Community Building as Flushing Commons Phase 2 Breaks Ground
A Commercial Observer interview published Nov. 3 profiles Helen Lee, a second-generation leader of F&T Group, the Chinese American development family behind major projects in downtown Flushing, Queens. The Lee family immigrated from Taiwan to Queens in the early 1980s, and the firm has built Tangram, One Fulton Square and Phase 1 of Flushing Commons.
Phase 1 of Flushing Commons was completed in 2017 at about 660,000 square feet. In the firm's 30th anniversary year, Phase 2 broke ground in September at roughly 600,000 square feet, promising 156 residences, a 1.3-acre public park, 100,000 square feet of office condominiums, a new 63,000-square-foot YMCA facility and 148,000 square feet of retail.
Lee said her retail strategy draws on Asian shopping centers; over Christmas last year she visited about 25 malls in seven Asian countries, and sees them as community places where families gather for hours. Because Flushing is heavily Asian, she said, development must respond to the local market. The firm will also soon start pre-development for Phase 3, at approximately 400,000 square feet.
(Source: Commercial Observer)
Source: Commercial Observer
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：纽约法拉盛Main Street街景。（Wikimedia Commons，公共领域） / Photo: Main Street in Flushing, New York. (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)
