Crain’s New York Business, August 29, 2005 by Tommy
Fernandez
Shoppers from as far away as Delaware City and Detroit come
to buy the latest styles from Sean John and Phat Farm at discount prices. Musicians like LL Cool J use the
neighborhood as a backdrop for music videos because it’s the place to be
seen. Retail rents are jumping as high
as $190 per square foot.
The area in question is in Queens: the nine-block strip of
Jamaica Avenue from Parsons Boulevard to 169th Street.
Retailers of discount urban and athletic clothing started
flocking to the avenue a decade ago.
Improved public transportation and a spate of commercial development –
starting with the construction of a four-story retain complex on 159th
Street four years ago – have added momentum.
Now businesses of all types are racing to enter the neighborhood.
“Jamaica Avenue has become one of the hottest retail areas
in Queens,” says Brian Sarath, a managing director at Massey Knakal Realty
Services Inc. “The area is very hot for
developers.”
Local leaders have been quick to find ways to solidify the
neighborhood’s appeal, such as posting greeters to meet bargain hunters as they
come off charter buses.
“The avenue brings in quite a number of shoppers on weekends,” observes Janet Barkan, executive director of the Jamaica Center Improvement Association, a local business group. “We’ll get charter buses from Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and even South Carolina.”
Ms Barkan is organizing tourist walks through the area,
including one scheduled for September that will celebrate former resident
Billie Holiday, the late jazz singer who was born 90 years ago. Other community leaders are developing
marketing campaigns to expand awareness of Jamaica Avenue throughout the
Northeast.
“The audience keeps getting larger and larger,” says Derek
Irby, executive director of the 165th Street Mall Improvement
Association. “We need to find more ways
to capitalize on this growth.”
Jamaica Avenue’s success has generated challenges for the
neighborhood as well.
The Jamaica Center business improvement district recently
had to acquire 10 Big Belly solar-powered trash compactors to deal with the
increased garbage flow. Ms. Barkan and
Mr. Irby are now working to improve the nightlife in the area. Few of the stores stay open into the
evening, and there is a lack of sit-down eateries.
“We’d like to find ways to make people stay here longer,”
says Ms. Barkan. “It would be wonderful
to have a jazz club and some white-tablecloth restaurants.”