Long Island City new biz update; many new restaurants popping & bubbling
New Biz
The owners and operators of the Tennisport Restaurant are bringing a Cuban Restaurant to the space where Spa DiSilva was supposed to – but never – manifested. They’ve already begun work and have filed for a liquor license. 4729 Vernon Blvd, LIC
Another new restaurant is coming to the new 10-17 Jackson Avenue development next door to Café Henri, and has also filed for a liquor license.
A burger joint will be settling into the old Tomato and Wasabi location on Jackson Ave at 44th Drive, near Court Square. 25-36 Jackson Ave, LIC
A new café is coming to the space next to Da Gianni’s Ristorante on 44th Drive just west of 23rd Street.
Duane Reade is possibly setting up another shop in 2 Court Square, the new Citibank building.
Natural Frontier Market is opening a new location in LIC to add to its stores in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The health food market is confirmed for the 4000SF ground floor of 12-01 Jackson Ave, @ 11th Street.
Guitart & Jones restaurant serving American tapas will be opening at 5-09 50th Ave, between Vernon Blvd & Jackson Ave.
Now Open
LIC’s newest Italian restaurant, Testaccio, will be having its grand opening this Friday. 47-30 Vernon Blvd, LIC, 718.937.2900
Primp & Tease is now open at the bottom of the Prestige Condos. They are a Bumble & Bumble salon, specializing in hair cuts, styling, coloring, and make-up application. 5-04 50th Ave, @ 5th St, LIC, 718.472.2001
A new children’s boutique & consignment store called Little Closets is now open in the former Art-O-Mat space at 46-46 Vernon Blvd. The store offers “a sustainable, ‘recession friendly’, community-oriented retail option for the rapidly growing population of small children in the area,” including “child-friendly décor” with a story corner & puppet theater. They are currently accepting donations; email littleclosets@yahoo.com for more info.
Still in the Works
A preschool is opening in the ground floor of an old engineering building on 47th Ave, just east of 5th St. Lolly’s Early Learning Center will be ready for tours and full enrollment this November, and fully open for the new year on January 5, 2010. Call 646.351.6077 for more information. 5-44 47th Ave, LIC
A Doggy Day Spa is still in progress at the retail space in the bottom of Avalon Riverview North. 4-75 48th Ave, Queenswest, LIC, 866.211.8735
The former Getty autobody shop on 11th St between 47th Rd and 47th Ave is still transforming into the Long Island City Bakery.
El Ay Si, the American bistro serving ‘comfort food’ at 47-38 Vernon Blvd, will be opening at the end of this month. 718.389.8781
A new, fancy Italian furniture store is still under construction in the ground floor retail space at 10-50 Jackson Ave.
CBRE, historically a commercial brokerage, will also be brokering residential sales and rentals out of their new retail space in the bottom of East Coast 6 (aka 4705 Center Blvd), which should also be opening in the fall.
Liquor License Update
- Vernon Blvd Latin fusion restaurant Blend now has their very own liquor license. 47-04 Vernon Blvd, LIC, 718.729.2800
What happened to City Dog Lounge????
I thought City Dog was just closed temporarily for renovation or something…
great to see all these new developments by court square, jackson is much better suited for these establishments then vernon. also vere has closing dates mid november
vere was supposed to close in july. i wonder what happened? a few months is reasonable, anything more is questionable. just ask the people by qb plaza.
Yes #4, Jackson is better suited for new places. I love restaurants! We should be able to enjoy new business so long as it is not in my back yard. Or yours for that matter…
We were trying to buy dog food the other day and the salespeople shoo’d us out. They said they were closing for vacation. But, the stock has been pretty bad the last few weeks. Are they really closed for good?
I suspect we won’t see rolling pins on the exterior of the gas station bakery. The deck they’re building already strays from the conceptual drawing, and that exposed red brick looks pretty good- can’t imagine them covering it up.
Also, VERY excited about Cuban coming to the neighborhood.
i hope they will be in my backyard, buying a place in vere, the courthouse area is going to change, and gotham center hopefully have large retail occupancies!!!
Blend has a liquor license? How did that happen?
They finally received a Beer & Wine only last week and now they have a liquor license? Doubtful.
Although I wish is were true, I think it is once again misinformation.
LIQCity, anything next to Da Gianni’s Ristorante on 44th Drive is EAST not WEST of 21st Street.
While I am glad that Jackson is getting more retail, I disagree that is better suited than Vernon. Vernon is a smaller street which is easy to cross and that makes it friendlier for patrons of any retail use. Jackson might be great for national chains that have name recognition and could pull in the traffic that goes down Jackson everyday.
Blend congrats and I will be there soon to enjoy a drink and a nice meal.
The city took a majority of the parking on Jackson away, so were will big chains get this drive by business. It’s still a walking street that I hope large chains stay away from. More individual business like What Teleitha runs would be welcome.
Talitha.
You’re welcome.
Gotham Center will have zero impact for retail in LIC for the foreseeable future. Not b/c of anything else but this crap economy. In a few decades probably, but not anytime soon.
And a building like Vere, Purves or Arris barely makes a dent in the plans of a retail chain to locate a store.
But welcome to LIC people, it’s going to be a fun next few years!!
I’m not Talitha. Just someone who has lived here for 19 years. I expected more from you NYC Native. I don’t even think she is in the country right now. If I were her I wouldn’t bother with this blog if I was living in France.
My point is that we need bookstores and fish stores and small business as apposed to Duane Reed and MacDonald’s and another 10 restaurants that miss the mark in this neighborhood. I could only think of her place. We have a funky dollar store and a hair salon, framing place, as well on Jackson, so kuto’s for mom and pop business.
who’s talitha?
Who said you were, #16? Utterly non-sensical, because if you were, you probably wouldn’t have misspelled the name. I merely corrected the crap spelling of “Teleitha” by #13. And no, she is not living in France, for the record.
Greenpoint, here I come!
Also, it’s “kudos”, #16.
Hahaha. ‘Kutos’
Nice, more liquor license/CB2 Drama! Will CB2 be having Lounge 47 raided by multiple government agencies again, in an attempt to prevent the corruption and popularization of LIC?
Testaccio will be open tonight for Dinner begining at 5pm…
Desert will be served after the raid…
is any other bar even relevant after the Dutch Kills opening?
LIC Bar
lol, what would the neighborhood do with a fish store?!
If there were a fish store in LIC I probably would not go much if at all. I’d rather have another restuarant. A bookstore would be nice. I wish they took the library site in queens west and put a large barnes and nobles there. that would be 100’s of times better than a public library
People should eat more fish.
Fish should eat more people.
A fishmonger i the neighborhood would be wonderful! I agree with 28, we should all eat more fish.
Will the TV be on at Testacio’s tonight?
The fact that people can bash Testaccio before it even opens shows is absolutely ludicrous. How can you hate a restaurant that hasn’t even opened? Makes no sense people. And, if you hate them, but then rant all the time about them, it gives them more publicity. I would just quietly seethe instead. More productive. Or hey, why not actually go try them, and THEN hate them. At least that would make more sense.
Greenpoint is not for you NYC Native. Not enough spiteful drama. You might get bored over there… people just live quietly in harmony, and go to one of their many reasonably priced grocery stores. Everyone gets a liquor license, the neighborhood tolerates noise and …gasp… having fun. Amazing restaurants. Bo-ring. I’d rather live somewhere where there are only restaurants serving brick oven pizza. Oh wait…
#27 -B&N better than a library? Oh I see you one of the people that use B&N as a library and sit there all day and read their books without ever making a PURCHASE.
I think a burger joint on 44th drive will do very well – when is that going to open?
That burger joint won’t last the year. That area is a wasteland during the weekend.
#33, no, I actually buy books, which is why a BN is better than a library. and you can get other things there aside from books. Only homeless people, retired people and pedophiles hang out in libraries.
#35 It is not a wasteland during the weekend. Believe it or not people actaully live over here!!!! There are several gallery’s and of course PS1 that draws people on the weekend and of course people still work in the office buildings on the weekend.
#32, exactly. Why, only last night, I was able to get food (juicy chicken from Pio Pio Rico) delivered after 10:30 pm to my haunt in Greenpoint. Ah, the variety of food over here…yum!
And, hey, when I need a “spiteful drama” fix, I can always check out this blog for the next installment in the never ending series “The Persecution of Lounge 47 (or any other non-Italian new joint that dares to serve adult beverages after the sidewalks are rolled up)”.
See ya! I’ll be waving from my ginormous rooftop!
31, I know that’s you, Testaccio.
I wasn’t bashing the restaurant, just the GIANT TV that looks so out of place from the street. Otherwise, the place looks spectacular.
Greenpoint is awful. The G train is 100x worse that the 7 train and there are no other options but the bus to take you to Manhattan. Parking is a pain. After about 9-10pm Manhattan Ave is dead as a door knob. I would hurry and leave the area by then since all the shops are closed. Plus you are on top of the worlds biggest oil spill.
LIC is also on top of the world’s biggest oil spill, silly.
The nightlife is on Franklin, not Manhatta Ave, silly. The bars are much more plentiful and far better than those in LIC on the whole. Much more people out-and-about. Good coffeehouses. Fewer yuppies.
The G train isn’t that bad.
Greenpoint is great. I’d move there if it wasn’t so expensive. It’s like a more laid-back version of Williamsburg.
#39, I am 31 and I am most definitely not Testaccio. I wished they had not brought an Italian place either. but I was shocked to see that LIC people are already bashing new business, before they even try it out. Hello! Wake up. Bash it after it’s been open a week at least. That’s all I’m saying. You make me want to try it even more by the way. So you’re not even succeeding in your own mission. I suggest you get a new one.
“Only homeless people, retired people and pedophiles hang out in libraries.”
Wow. You do know that Queens Library has the highest circulation of any in the country, right? Elitist, much?
Perhaps Queens has the highest population of homeless people, retired people and pedophiles in the country?
Seriously, public libraries are an essential public service. Having said that, I’d love a big bookstore in LIC. Barnes and Nobles seems the most likely option given the trouble independent bookstores have had in recent years.
i also think the burger joint will do great. i think jackson ave/courthouse area will develop. the city is redoing all the streets and the subway link. also, heard a duane reade is planned for that area.
I hate to say it but TESTACCIO is not too good…I hope they will improve the menu. Get rid of the seared yellowfin tuna, don’t put so much salt in the pasta, more truffle flavor in the rice balls and that’s it for now…
It’s because of corporate run bookstores like Barnes and Nobles and Amazon that put little book store out of business.
Send tips, feedback, and death threats to info [at] liqcity [dot] com
Go Blend! I’ll try and stop by to show my support this weekend.
Just make sure the address numbers are within acceptable limits for your neighbors or else they’ll call the Department of Homeland Security on you.