Muss reports 85% occupancy at light industry center.

With Hashmi Import and Export, Inc., which moved recently into a 10,000 square feet space at the Flushing Light Industry Center (FLIC) in Queens, the modernized Center is more than 85 percent leased to some three dozen tenants, it was announced by Joshua L. Muss, principal, Muss Development Company, which completed acquisition of the property in 1988.

Almost 150,000 square feet of indoor space at FLIC has been remodeled and marketed in the past 18 months.

Developed in 1916 on a 14-acre site by the Nathan Manufacturing Company, which made military products, the Flushing property is comprised of a group of six two-story buildings connected by a three-story central distributing atrium. Con Ed bought the facility in 1918 as its headquarters, and used it for administrative offices, equipment repair and storage. The utility added a four-story building in front of the property and built a one-story, 50,000-square-foot garage facility.

Robin Muss Abada, the leasing representative for the Industry Center, said that tenants are attracted by FLIC's location and transportation access, indoor/outdoor space facilities, ample power and floor-load capacity, and a fully-enclosed site with a 24-hour manned security gate.

Tenants include clothing manufacturers and distributors, and companies in the furniture, computer assembly, golf, trading, dry cleaning equipment, auto alarm and stereo installation, import/export, and graphics businesses.

She noted that the Hashmi company, which is a wholesale distributor of women's and men's T-shirts and sweat shirts, relocated from the 16th floor of a loft building on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan to the more convenient FLIC facilities. At the Center, it occupies ground floor quarters in the former Con Ed garage building under a five-year lease.

Because FLIC has hundreds of thousands of square feet of leasable outdoor space, it also is ideal for companies that require large amounts of open parking and storage areas. At the Industry Center, Abada said, such tenants include an auto dealership that does car preparation and stocks the cars, and several tenants that primarily park vehicles on the site. Two of the most recent leasing transactions at FLIC involved the Incredible Furniture Co. and Eastern America Trio Products, Inc. Incredible Furniture, an existing tenant at the center, which warehouses and distributes furniture imported from Korea and Italy, moved within the complex, doubling its space to almost 12,000 square feet. Eastern American Trio Products, Inc., leased 8,000 square feet for warehousing and distribution of electronic equipment. The firm relocated from another building in Flushing.

Over 50 percent of the businesses renting space in FLIC are owned by Asian-Americans, and Abada said that many are "start-up" companies launched by people who live in Flushing. She pointed out that Flushing "is a growing,dynamic community that has become a major local focal point for Asian-owned businesses."