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About Rego Park
Rego Park is a diverse neighborhood in the central portion of the New York
City borough of Queens. It is bordered to the north by Elmhurst and Corona, the
east and south by Forest Hills and the west by Middle Village. The neighborhood
is part of Queens Community Board 6.
History
A swath of farmland until the early 20th century, the area that came to be
called Rego Park was once populated by Dutch & German farmers who sold their
produce in Manhattan. The name "Rego Park" came from the REal GOod Construction
Company, which began development of the area in the mid 1920's, starting with
525 eight-room houses costing $8,000 each, stores were built in 1926 on Queens
Boulevard and 63rd Drive and apartment buildings were built in 1927–28.
Like its neighbor, Forest Hills, Rego Park has long had a significant Jewish
population most of which are from Bukharian, Iranian, and Russian ancestors,
with a number of synagogues and kosher restaurants. Cartoonist Art Spiegelman
grew up in Rego Park and made it the setting for significant scenes involving
his aged father in Maus, his graphic novel about the Holocaust. Even as many
Jews have departed for further-flung suburbs over the years, they have been
replaced by Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, especially from
Central Asia. Though these immigrants largely trace their ethnic roots back to
Bukharian Jewish culture, the effect of life in the Soviet Union on the
population has led Rego Park to have a Russian feel with many signs in Russian
Cyrillic. Most of the Bukharian Jewish immigrants in the neighborhood come from
what is now Uzbekistan, and it is possible to find excellent, authentic Uzbek
food in many Rego Park restaurants. Immigrant populations from Albania, Israel,
Romania, Iran, Colombia and South Korea are also well-represented.
Many houses in Rego Park are in the colonial and Tudor style with slate roofs.
This is especially so in an area called the Crescents, the most expensive real
estate in Rego Park. Named because of the neighborhood's semicircular shaped
streets emanating in a concentric pattern from Alderton Street. Real estate
values are also high due to easy access to Manhattan via the 63rd Drive subway
stop, served by the R, G, and V lines.
The CBS sitcom The King of Queens is set in Rego Park, and sometimes shows clips
of the area.
Public transportation
The Long Island Rail Road overpass between Austin and Alderton Streets hosted
the Rego Park station until its abandonment in 1962. Though physically part of
the railroad "Main Line" heading out to Jamaica, the station operated as part of
the Rockaway Beach Branch. The station was later dismantled, and little can be
discerned of its existence now save for the flattened clearing beside the
tracks.
The IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway has a local station at
63rd Drive (E G R V) and Queens Boulevard, dating from the mid-1930s. It is, at
various times of the day and week, serviced by the E, G, R, and V trains.
A number of Express Buses also run between the neighborhood and locations in
Manhattan.
Commerce
Along Queens Boulevard, Rego Park is home to some of Queens' most popular
shopping destinations, including the Rego Park Center (formerly Alexander's
department store), a retail complex with large Sears, Bed Bath & Beyond, Circuit
City, Marshalls, and Old Navy locations. A new shopping center being built
across 62nd Drive from Rego Park Center will house a Home Depot, Kohl's, and
Century 21 department store; this center is scheduled to open in 2009. The
Queens Center mall, the borough's largest, lies just to the west in Elmhurst.
Shopping Districts with many smaller stores, bakeries, pharmacies and
restaurants can be found along 108th Street and 63rd Drive.
Rego Park's boundaries include Queens Boulevard, the Long Island Expressway,
Woodhaven Boulevard, and Yellowstone Boulevard.
63rd Drive
The main business thoroughfare of Rego Park is 63rd Drive. The main section
extends from Woodhaven Boulevard in the south, to Queens Boulevard in the north,
with the central business district of Rego Park nestled between Alderton Street
(just south of the Long Island Rail Road overpass), and Queens Boulevard. The
stretch south of Alderton is entirely residential. The business district is
anchored by PS 139, an elementary school dating from 1928, and significantly
enlarged in the 1980s. The business district is criss-crossed by major Rego Park
side streets Saunders, Booth, Wetherole and Austin. Most of the businesses
lining 63rd Drive are the original single story "Taxpayers" dating from the
1930s.
Across Queens Boulevard to the north, 63rd Drive becomes 63rd Road, and its
business district continues another three blocks. One block to the east another
63rd Drive extends from Queens Boulevard, but this spur is a minor, narrow, one
way residential street. It was common practice when the numbering system for
streets and avenues evolved, for the street names to change from one side of
Queens Boulevard to the other.
Rego Park Mall II development project
Tentatively dubbed “Rego Park Mall II” by developer Vornado Realty Trust, the
277,000-square-foot (25,700 mē) site across the street from Sears will feature
four floors of shops, a multilevel parking garage and possibly 450 new
apartments, according to New York City Planning Commission records. An
additional one block parcel owned by Alexander’s may include another 80,000
square feet (7,000 mē) of retail space, according to an Oct. 30 filing with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Plans for two high rise apartments are
still preliminary, but would likely include a 15 story tower at the corner of
97th Street and 62nd Drive, and a 20 story tower at the corner of Junction
Boulevard and 62nd Drive, city records show. The design and style of the new
high rises would match those of nearby complexes, according to a land use
proposal submitted by Alexander’s, Inc., and approved by the City Planning
Commission last year. No further details are available on possible apartment
rents, amenities or unique features—aside from two planned penthouses topping
both the tentative 245-foot (75 m) structure and the 295-foot (90 m) structure.
The ground level shopping complex, meanwhile, will add an array of new retail
options to the Sears, Bed Bath & Beyond, Circuit City, Marshall’s and Old Navy
across the street. According to SEC filings, property owners have entered into
longterm lease agreements with the Home Depot home-improvement store chain and
two major clothing retailers and may search for more tenants to occupy the three
attached buildings of retail space.
Construction on the new development has already started as of December, 2006
with an anticipated completion date of sometime in late 2009. It is believed
that the retail portion of the project, including parking for approx. 1,330
spaces and a 2-level pedestrian and vehicular bridge overpass over 62nd Drive
(connecting to the existing Rego Park Mall I complex) will be completed and open
for use prior to the expected commencement and completion of the residential
portion of the project.
Rego Park Mall 2 will be home to department stores such as The Home Depot,
Century 21 Department Store, and Kohl's.
The development of Rego Park Mall 2 will further increase the already staggering
real estate values in Rego Park.