Moving forward: Gotham Center, MTA improvements & Queens Plaza updates

Court Square subway transfer construction progressing, LIC

We took another walk around Court Square, but this time all the way down Jackson Ave to Queens Plaza. Construction (and impending construction) prevails again, so we decided to check in on a couple of projects going on in the area, including MTA improvements, new developments, and, of course, Queens Plaza’s multi-million dollar facelift:

• Court Square Subway Renovation
  Over at Court Square, the construction of the E/G/V subway transfer has progressed – what seems to be the white infrastructure of the escalator and/or elevator has already been installed.

• MTA Vent Plant on Jackson Ave
  Construction is also going on in the street along Jackson Ave leading up to 43rd Ave, which has been closed except to emergency vehicles. This area next to the Gulf gas station and across the street from Vere Condo (the ground FL retail of which is still empty and being worked on) has been blocked off as a work zone. A sign on the side of the site actually marks it as an approximately $76.02 million MTA construction project for a new Vent Plant being created for “improved ventilation along the E/G/R/V lines, and an enhanced streetscape on Jackson Ave,” scheduled for completion in Sept 2012.

Tishman Speyer’s Gotham Center going up, Queens Plaza, LIC

Gotham Center
As you’re headed to Queens Plaza, it obviously doesn’t take long to notice Gotham Center looming on the horizon. The building seems to be going up at breakneck speed, already hitting at least 15 stories and getting glassy near the bottom.

• Star Tower
  Right across the street from Gotham Center is the huge gaping lot where the 25-story Star Tower should be further along by now. Last we checked Roe Development hadn’t returned any phone calls and for awhile their webpage was mysteriously coming up as an ‘attack site,’ but the word on the street (literally) is that the construction of LIC’s tallest residential highrise will resume in February.

• Queens Plaza Bicycle and Pedestrian Project
  Further along, and past the deathtrap of crossing guards, medians, and whizzing cars at Queens Plaza East is the now empty parking lot in the shadow of the Clocktower Building that has been closed for reconstruction as of 6/15/09. A bunch of random barriers and bundles of wood have been piled in the lot, which, like the other chunks of street and medians nearby, will be getting greener sooner or later as part of the $76M Queens Plaza renovation. The slice of the plaza right in front of the Clocktower Building has been blocked off and hung with a NYCEDC sign about the project:

Sign and rendering of the Queens Plaza Bicycle and Pedestrian Project, LIC

“The Queens Plaza Bicycle and Pedestrian Project will transform this primary entry point into Long Island City into a dynamic and appealing gateway and centerpiece for development. This project seeks to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety by realigning the roadway, creating widened medians that will support a bikeway, as well as a landscaped 1.5 acre open area that will function as a public plaza with artist-designed benches and pavers. [This is in addition to] new sidewalks, curbs, trees, tree pits, other planted areas, and new lighting.”