Queens Community House Buys Its Forest Hills Headquarters

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — Queens Community House bought its longtime Forest Hills headquarters, paving the way for a major renovation of the community center, the social services organization announced Monday.

The social services organization finalized the purchase in December 2020 and will start renovations in July, according to a news release.

The renovation will modernize the building's infrastructure and add lounges, counseling rooms and areas for intergenerational activities, Queens Community House Executive Director Ben Thomases said.

The newly-renovated community center is slated for a grand opening in summer 2022.

“For 45 years, the Forest Hills Community Center has been a hub of activity and essential services for our neighbors in central Queens, and as such, it is showing its wear," Thomases said in a statement. "Now, after a year of limited operations due to COVID, we look forward to welcoming people back to a transformed site in 2022.”

Queens Community House has run the Forest Hills Community Center since 1976, when it was established as part of an agreement brokered by then-attorney Mario Cuomo to build low-income housing in the neighborhood while also appeasing Forest Hills residents.

It was owned by the New York City Housing Authority as part of the Forest Hills Coop development.

Queens Community House continued using the center on 62nd Drive as its administrative headquarters as it expanded to 32 sites across the borough.

It now sees more than 4,600 people pass through its doors each year to participate in programs such as English language classes and youth leadership programming, according to a news release.

But Queens Community House could not buy the site until 2017, when tenant leaders the Forest Hills Coop took ownership of the development.

After years of unspecified "technical complications," according to a news release, the organization succeeded in purchasing the center late last year.

"The purchase marks an enormous milestone in our organization’s evolution, and it solidifies the continuity of the Forest Hills space as an essential resource for the Forest Hills, Rego Park, and Corona communities,” Thomases said.

This article originally appeared on the Forest Hills Patch