Retail blooms in Hunters Point; Lots of new Long Island City biz

Is CBRE the broker or are they really opening an office in that space. It seems odd that they would open a retail space and in a residential area.

Or a wine store.

I cannot believe that someone would open a brick oven pizza on the same block as Bella Via. What are they thinking. What kind of business people are involved in this place? This has to be a stupid rumor just to annoy Manetta’s and Bella Via.

I agree with #6. How are they going to get a liquor license? Blend still din’t get theirs. I don’t think they should be able to get it. Enough is Enough now. Let’s support the places that we have. It’s been hard enough in this economy for this restaurants to survive. Let’s show them our loyaly.

Why is everyone always hating, if someone believes in this neighborhood so much that there investing money, time and there sweat on why cant we all support them. There is nothing over here!!!! nothing, i can count all the restaurants with my hand, the more restaurants we have the more people will come here and stay and hang out here, rather then the robots that live in the tower, they get off the train go to 48th avenue make the left and do the same thing in reverse. We need more reasons for people to stay in LIC, come to LIC, and then you will see more retail come here and the neighborhood will continue to flourish….

Enough already with the ‘tower people’ reference. We get it, you wish you could live there, but can’t afford them, so you post on the Internet.

I live in the towers and I rarely leave LIC. The food is great in the area and so are the bars…plus you save a lot of money by staying here. I’ve probably gone out in Manhattan only a handful of times in the last year.
As for Pizza, every time I walk by San Remo and Zacks and the couple times I went there, it was empty. If they wanted to, they could fix those places up and make them a little more inviting. If they also tried making their pizza something special that doesn’t taste like your average slice, people would go there. Everyone I know in the area orders pizza from Casanova in Greenpoint.

We need a tapas bar. A good one.

maybe this will clear up some of the questions about what this place will be:
http://www.outerb.com/?p=1444

it looks like it is goign to be a different addition to the neighborhood.

18, then don’t go. Jesus.

Hey #19 – 18 here. I didn’t say that I wouldn’t go there – I simply said that I don’t buy that it will be that “different”.

This thread is getting tiresome. “We need this, we want that.” WAAAHHHH!!!!

I agree with #14. The new restaurants are not offereing anything new. Why is that. Is it because they see the existing restaurants are doing well and they want to cut in on the action. Be original open something that isn’t here.

#23 What’s worse, neighborhood folks, discussing ideas for what is trully needed in the neighborhood and complaining about getting more of the same OR you complaing about us complaining?

YOU are worse.

San Remo’s pizza is just bad. I’m not sure where you are from 27, but for people who grew up with great pizza in Queens or Brooklyn, San Remo is not an option.

dramatic = whiny.

WAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

Why is everyone such a whimp in this neighborhood?

What makes us wimps?

I would never even think of putting Cassino in the same class as San Remo’s. Obviously you’ve never been to Cassino. The owners take great pride in their restaurant and the food is good too. And if you order out from there they have quick delivery, sometimes by the owner himself.

#37 agree, delivery from the owner and a solid pizza at Cassino.

Indian and Middle Eastern! Personally I’ve always found Tapas kind of trite.

#36 if you are a landlord with any feeling for the neighborhood you live in…you don’t rent to the first person willing to pay your over priced hi rent. If your invested in the neighborhood you own a building in…you what your tenant to succeed. But then again if your tenant is connected or exceedingly wealthy you don’t have to worry about them offering the community what it wants, or succeeding. Testatico looks like it’s more of the same. This is not a new cuisine to the neighborhood. No one ever said it was a crime to build a restaurant.

How are San Remo’s garlic knots anybody?

Anyone who says San Remo has good pizza has no idea what good pizza is. That pizza is about as bad as it gets.

How can anyone think that a landlord should be a city planner? As long as he rents to someone reputable, a landlord can’t be held responsible to judge what type of ethnic food should be in his space. Do you think he should take less rent for a Spanish or Middle Eastern restaurant than for an Italian restaurant.
And are you really trying to say that landlords shouldn’t do construction on their properties because people live next door? That is just silly.

I agree that having a Middle Eastern restaurant would be good. That and a Spanish food place would be good additions.

And yes some of landlords us do take an interest in what comes to the neighborhood. It’s not always about money. It’s about good tenants that contribute to the neighborhood, take a stewardship of the place and are welcoming. I never said a landlord shouldn’t do construction. I only said that I would never rent to another Italian restaurant because I think we are over saturated and I never said that Indian or Middle Eastern would pay less rent. But I would want a tenant of mine to have a successful formula and good food and an understanding and respect for the neighborhood. And because Communitea is about the only reasonably priced restaurant….and it’s busy most of the time. I would rather have a tenant that served great inexpensive food because personally I feel that would be the component to their success. It’s not about being held resposible, I think it’s about being responsible. What is so idealistic about that?

Manducati’s
Manducati’s Rustica
Bella Villa
Manetta’s
Cassino
Juinior’s
San Remo
Da Gianni’s
And Masso which has some Italian fare

Just saying do we really need another Italian restaurant?

Ok so you lied or misrepresented yourself at best. Residential leasing is totally different than commercial. To put it in terms that you understand, if you had two tenants that were identical in every way except one was willing to pay double, who would you rent to?

One thing that the landlords should be commended for is the lack of a Starbucks, Subway, McDonalds, etc. (I’m aware there is a Domino’s and a Quiznos, but that’s it). There’s nothing wrong with these establishments, but without them we have the chance for great locally owned restaurants.

We are forgetting that our beloved LIC is traditionally an Italian neighborhood, hence the abundance of Italian restaurants. We should respect that.

Having said that, there are so many empty spaces for new restaurants that it would be nice if landlords encouraged new restaurants to add to the diversity of the growing neighborhood. Lebanese, Vietnamese, Spanish tapas, Indian….all great choices.

And yes, hats off to anyone and everyone who has ever helped to keep out the starbucks, mcdonalds and all that junk food out of the neighborhood!

Before you pat yourselves on the backs too much for your high standards of taste, don’t think for a second that Starbuck’s (or McDonald’s) wouldn’t be packed to the rafters if it moved into LIC. Give it time.

56, Agreed. Actually, Italians were smart enough to not have their cities destroyed and always knew just the right time to switch sides. (If you were Italian, you’d know we never really dug Germans. Their taste in wine and food is terrible.)

Of course, that new Italian restaurant has the potential to be a huge hit, as long as the food and service are good. There are few things more pleasurable in life than a dynamite Italian meal, as most of us know.

Crumbs cupcakes are great!

I agree about the cupcake fad and anything with velveeta(ugh). The cupcake thing can be blamed on SATC and their fixation with Magnolia Bakery. But – please don’t put meatloaf in that category – a well made meatloaf will always find its way to my table – not those overly gravied loose ones from diners – but a good homemade one that holds together like a country pate when you slice it. As for PB&J – not my cup of tea, but it’s been around for generations. I like my PB sandwich with raisins, bacon or bananas – also chunky variety of PB mixed into vanilla ice cream.

Why is it that these threads always turned into childish, personal attacks on each other? I don’t think that’s what this blog is meant for.

when will more landlords realize business begets business… rent out the empty eyesores!