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COVER STORY: Helen Lee Discusses Development in Flushing
COVER STORY LEE HELPS LEAD F&T THROUGH PANDEMIC
BY BENJAMIN FANG
Although Asian-Americans are the fastest growing demographic in the United States, they face the challenge of the “bamboo ceiling,” a set of barriers that exclude AsianAmericans from upper management positions in the workplace.
For Helen Lee, executive vice president of F&T Group, she also had to overcome the glass ceiling as a female executive in the real estate industry.
An immigrant from Taiwan, Lee said she proudly embraces her Asian-American “dual identity,” which she said allows her to see things through two different lenses.
“We’ve made great strides in breaking both barriers,” she said. “I’m continuously optimistic we can do that.”
Arguably the most prominent real estate company in Flushing, F&T Group’s portfolio includes properties like Flushing Mall, Queens Crossing, One Fulton Square and Flushing Commons.
Founded by chairman and CEO Michael Lee, the company was established as TAFA Development Corp., which was named after Lee’s family’s shipping company in his native Taiwan. In 1996, Lee and Sunny Chiu, the company’s vice chairman, partnered to form what is now F&T Group.
The company’s portfolio extends beyond Flushing, with projects in Manhattan, Brooklyn and even Nanjing, China. In addition to its headquarters in Flushing, F&T Group also has an office in Shanghai.
While Lee and Chiu have made a name for themselves in the real estate industry, the future of the company lies with Helen Lee, who joined her father’s company as executive vice president in February 2014.
Lee oversees the company’s day-to-day corporate and business functions, as well as the overall management and strategic direction of the firm alongside her father. She is responsible for the development, master planning, asset management, leasing, sales, as well as marketing and branding efforts for the company.
A graduate of Harvard University, the Barlett School of Architecture at University College London and New York University’s Stern School of Business, Lee was previously a director at Onex Real Estate Partners, the real estate arm of the private equity fund Onex, which has $30 billion of assets under management.
She also worked at the master planning firm Edaw, which is now AECOM, as well as the real estate advisory firm Gerald Eve in London.
A mother of two kids, Lee said she knows how difficult it is to succeed in a “high-octane industry” like real estate.
“We have to give working mothers the tools to be successful,” she said, “but also balance work and home life.”
Lee helped lead F&T Group through the last six months, which she described as challenging. She said her company was ahead of the pandemic in comparison to the rest of the city and country, largely due to their cultural ties to Asia.
“We knew to wear masks,” she said. “On top of that, we were having to deal with a lot of racial discrimination from people for wearing masks.”
The company’s phones rang “off the hook” from tenants who were panicking, Lee said. When the state instituted the shelter-in-place policy that shut down New York, Lee said
they were working around the clock with all their small business tenants to structure rent abatements and navigate city programs.
The silver lining, Lee said, was that the crisis showed how strong their relationships were with tenants, which she said was due to having been in the community for so long.
F&T Group also had to shut down construction and the hundreds of workers at Tangram, the company’s 1.2 million-square foot mixed-use development on 39th Avenue in Flushing.
“The whole supply chain was affected,” Lee said. “It sent us into a crazy tailspin.”
Forced to adapt quickly, F&T Group began doing closings on residences virtually, and shut down its construction sites. The company learned to stay calm, pivot quickly, be decisive and not make decisions based on fear.
One of the big projects that was put on hold was the Special Flushing Waterfront District (SFWD), a 29-acre, privately-owned site along the Flushing Creek that F&T Group, United Construction & Development Group and the Young Nian Group plan to develop.
The project, which is nearing the end of the city’s Uniformed Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), would bring 1,725 units of housing, including up to 90 affordable apartments, in 13 buildings, along with offices, shops and hotels.
Lee touted all of the benefits the project would bring to the community, from the expanded public shore walkway that provides recreational open spaces to the privately funded but publicly used road network, which she believes would alleviate the congestion problem in downtown Flushing.
The developers behind the Special Flushing Waterfront District would also remediate the creek with city and state oversight. Lee said if the property owners built their own projects as of right, they wouldn’t have to seek city or state approvals.
She noted that for more than 25 years, the Flushing waterfront became more polluted and often smells like rotten eggs.
COVER STORY
Helen Lee on the Flushing waterfront where the proposed project would be built.
“I don’t think the community wants to associate Flushing with that smell anymore,” she said.
Lee also emphasized the 3,000 jobs that would be created by the project, not just in construction, but also in finance, legal, design, building services and much more. There would also be a workforce training component that is targeted for people who need it the most.
“It’s what Queens really needs right now,” she said.
She said the waterfront district would result in $165 million annually in tax revenue “to revitalize our neighborhood,” including $115 million from property taxes alone.
“Think about how the city can benefit from that,” Lee added.
The developers behind the SFWD also see building out the waterfront as a legacy project. Lee called it the “last frontier” for Flushing, the last real piece of land that developers can stitch together into a project they believe will benefit the community.
Though each of the developers could have built their own developments on their sites years ago, they were convinced by city officials to collaborate and create a unifying district for the waterfront.
“This is the last opportunity, there’s no turning back,” she said. “Let’s put the politics aside and do what’s really best for Flushing.”
Often referred to as a “second Chinatown,” Lee said she always cringes at that description of the neighborhood. Though it was dilapidated and lacked public and private investment, she said F&T Group knew Flushing was unique.
“My father wanted Flushing to stand on its own and be a dynamic cultural hub,” she said. “Places like this need to attract public and private investment. You have to stay authentic to your community.”
With the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, Lee said it’s hard to think about the future too much because of the uncertainty. For now, the company is focused on finishing the construction at Tangram while maintaining the safety and health of the workers.
The company also wants to guide the Special Flushing Waterfront District through the final stages of ULURP.
“We’re always looking for other opportunities,” she said.
Lee noted that the politics of the city is an important factor in how developers act in the long term. She noted that large real estate projects, such as the Industry City rezoning, were shut down in recent months, and believes those decisions reflect an anti-real estate and development push.
“In New York City, real estate development is already challenging as it is,” she said. “It’s the most highly regulated market in the country.
“The anti-development politics will influence where we develop and build,” Lee added. “It will force us to rethink where to put our private dollars.”
She believes the Special Flushing Waterfront District, as well as the city elections in 2021, will be a litmus test for how that anti-development movement will manifest.
With the effects of the COVID19 pandemic still affecting Flushing and New York City at large, Lee believes projects like the SFWD are needed now more than ever.
“The impact of COVID will set us back for years, that’s why we cannot sit still,” she said. “We’ve got to keep moving forward and push progress and growth.”
