Downtown Jamaica is now a strong regional employment and service center of commerce, government, higher education. The economic health of Jamaica Center and the 21 Queens communities in its immediate service area is good and the prospect for future growth are even higher.

This is not the normal predictable
view or the promotional projection of an economic development organization. It is a serious observation based on experience,
and a forecast based on real conditions–on what has and is happening, and what is planned and scheduled.

Anyone who walks today along
the heart of the Jamaica Avenue shopping district is shocked by the four-story steel structure now going
up on a superblock here. Jamaica Center One, an $80 million 15-screen theatre and shopping complex, will have big-name stores as tenants. It sits atop the City’s newest subway line and fronts on Jamaica Avenue where, just a few years ago, an elevated transit line rattled overhead and darkened the street.

According to Carlisle Towery, development of the AirTrain and Jamaica Center One are a sign that private-sector confidence is growing in Jamaica. PRESS Photo by Marcia Moxam Comrie

This is the largest commercial development to date in Jamaica Center and a significant sign of private-sector confidence in a market that has gone unrecognized. The project will encourage additional private investments, and will bring thousands of people to the area in the evenings and on weekends. New stores will come here and existing establishments will be open in the evenings.

Just one building west, the $70 million Queens Family Court is nearing completion. It is an elegant complex, twice the size of the facility it replaces; it also houses offices of some two dozen agencies which support the Court’s operations. This influx of activity will generate more customers for Jamaica businesses.

Over its 34 years of planning and development effort, Greater Jamaica Development Corporation has fostered a combination of public and private investment to revitalize and rebuild Jamaica Center, to strengthen its regional role, and to advocate its economic growth. The success of this approach is dramatically demonstrated by these two major projects – the Queens Family Court and Jamaica Center One, ongoing up just five hundred feet apart.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Northeast Regional Laboratory and Headquarters, which opened last year on the York College Campus, positions York for growth in the health sciences, and offers Jamaica some unique opportunities for economic development.

Industrial anchors here, exemplified by Interstate Brands Bakery (Wonder Bread) and Elmhurst Dairy, have expanded operations.

As you walk in Jamaica Center along Jamaica Avenue, you will not find an empty store. And GJDC is upgrading two parking lots and an underutilized garage that will be operated to encourage shopping and to support economic activity here.

AirTrain and its terminal at Jamaica Station are both under construction. As the "Gateway to New York," AirTrain will be a great transportation boost for JFK International Airport travelers and employees and it will assure JFK’s continued contribution to the local economy and to our City’s leadership in the global economy.

We are confident that AirTrain will make Jamaica Center the "Gateway to JFK," attracting aviation-related businesses and operations, and opening up new avenues for economic development and employment.

The artist’s renderings are what planners envision for the future of the area surrounding the Jamaica LIRR station and Archer Avenue.

Greater Jamaica Development Corporation recently issued a planning framework called "Vision for Jamaica Center" which proposed economic development projects, transportation improvements and open space enhancements springing from AirTrain and its Jamaica Station development. It is the product of two years of technical analysis and consultations with community leaders and government agencies. I am pleased to report that this guide has been well received.

As the familiar saying goes, "we’ve come a long way." But we are not resting on Jamaica Center’s recovery from decline, the achievements to date, or its current well-being. Greater Jamaica Development Corporation – working with local leaders, our Community Board, the area’s business interests and all levels of government – is committed to supporting and to acting to foster an even brighter future for Jamaica Center and southeast Queens.

The tremendous strengths, productive effort, and dedication which this community and its leadership have brought to Jamaica’s resurgence will, when focused on realizing Jamaica’s new potentials, assure that ideas and opportunities, plans and projections are brought to fruition.