Starbucks finally finds a home in LIC & other openings in the hood
After two failed attempts, Starbucks is finally coming to Long Island City, and it’s going exactly where it belongs: the lobby of the Citibank tower. woohoo.
Sweet Leaf, Jackson @ 11th St, LIC
However, if your coffee sensibilities desire a more local and community brew, Sweet Leaf, the new cafe on the northwest corner of 11th Street & Jackson Ave is OPEN for business.
Moving right along with its construction, is the full-service, high-end beauty salon that we reported was popping up in on Vernon. Nails, tanning, and waxing services for not just the ladies, but you know. Mostly. Current ETA is August.
Sage Kitchen reported that their move to new digs on Jackson Ave next to Court Square Wine is on track for this summer. As an aside - I had a Chicken Lime soup there last week that was delicious.
Stalled Openings:
Anyone know what is the hold-up with Ihawan? Months ago they seemed ready to open shortly, and then all work seems to have died.
Also seemingly held up: the French bistro Figaro that is supposed to be manifesting here, doesn’t seem to be moving along either. ??
maybe Ihawan has a nasty neighbor issue too.
I’m glad it’s hiding in there… much easier to blissfully ignore.
Last I heard they’re CO is being held up. It’s too bad, would like to see if they have other things to offer besides BANY.
Sweet Leaf is awesome. I LOVE this place. A real, authentic, non-corporate coffee/ pastry place that is NOT Starbucks.
thanks for this update.
Sweet Leaf is great!!! If only it was bigger, open late, and had wifi.
Sweet Laef is open untill 9 or so - which in LIC is late - and I am happy to have it! It is great and the owner is super friendly!!!
Very happy to have Sweet Leaf in the neighborhood. Wifi would be a nice, but it’s great all the same.
Wifi, wifi. Get a life.
wifi is life.
#8 I stopped by yesterday and they said they are open till 10PM. Even better. :)
10 PM, eh? I’ll hit that up sometime.
.
#14, Starbucks plant?
Brandon
I don’t follow your comment. Please clarify
Thank you
what happened?
#17 here is the translation into more mainstream English:
10pm huh? I will go there some time and check it out.
i was referring to the deleted section in comment #14, not brandon’s comment.
- #17
citicorp building is not truley LIC. This is a joke for the area.
oh I meant that for #16.
#20 - dco - You think the Citi building is not LIC? You don’t mind making a fool of yourself over and over again I see.
Wait - what was deleated from comment #14? What is wrong with the ethics of sweet leaf? They said they were useing all organic coffee and milk - that sounds sort of ethical to me.
No. 14, I’m curious to learn what kind of serious ethics violation could possibly prevent someone from operating a business in the New LIC.
I wonder if the Starbucks in Citi will be open late and/or on weekends. I’m sure they’d get PS1 business. And Arris lofts.
But oh yeah, Sweetleaf is good.
tell us what #14 had to say, LIQCITY. Now we are curious. #14, can you come back and say it in a p.c. tone?
Ok I regret leaving that up now. Next time we will just delete the comment. It was character defamation of a named person. Not quite sure why that is such a chronic problem in the commenting… it’s an abuse of the blog though, and those of you who are doing it: stop. Thanks.
You knew this was coming the day this blog opened. Stop allowing anon posting and you’ll be fine. It’s real simple.
If anon posting ends, you’ll lose much of the lively and open discussion too. Look at what happened on QueensWest. Everyone should just mind their p’s and q’s and all will be fine.
But people are proving that they’re not minding their p’s and q’s, so it obviously won’t be fine. And liqcity knows this and instead is censoring comments, as they have done in the past.
I’m with #29. Anon posting is not all bad.
#30, 99% percent of the comments on liqcity are within bounds and informative, or at least lighthearted and fun to read. So what if a couple of dopes post the occasional outrageous comment? I’m smart enough to ignore them and don’t need some webmaster to screen them out for me. I respect that liqcity treats its visitors like adults.
#28 & #30 (likely the same person, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who it is) - you have a very fascist mentality. We are not idiots and we don’t need to be patrolled. Yes it sucks that there are assholes that abuse the system, but the majority of us stay within reasonable bounds. I like the anon posting. It’s quick. Its easy. No time consuming login… I wouldn’t comment even half as much as I do if I had to login to do it. And I like that it’s one long freeflowing HONEST conversation. It will definitely not be the same if logins are required. I hope liqcity that you will not force us to login.
I’m 29/32 and agree with bonafide. I can safely say that I will never post again if I have to register, even though I think I’ve been perfectly civil on this board. Who needs another QueensWest.com?
Who needs another curbed?
It’s not Curbed because it’s us.
LIQ, we are fine like this, we love the site the way it is. If I have to register I won’t post either, that’s why I left queenswest. And I actually contribute positive info here once in a while :-)
Curbed is us. Us is curbed. Liqcity is curbed, as is us.
Actually, curbed has changed their commenting system, and maybe liQ it would be good for this blog too. You can login and create an account if you want to, or you can post as a guest, which is one click and still totally anon, but it will stop spammers. And the registered user comments have visual prominence, but the anon comments are still there and totally readable. Whatever the case I agree with the others, we should not be forced to login. Don’t listen to the fascist.
I like that this site doesn’t waste my time. People are by and large respectful. We ignore the idiots. I hate Queenscrap because it’s so regulated. it just feels fake. I like Queenswest’s intention, but I think it needs a lot of work. It used to be good…
Ok since we’re having this discussion, if you really want to help keep the blog anonymous, here’s what you can do: post a name with your comment - fake is fine, just something for people to respond to other than the number. Get creative.
Other things: don’t defame others while openly revealing their identity; email us if you see comments like that because it’s hard to catch it all; email us in general if you see comments that really cross the line : homophobic, racist, and the worst of all: spam. :)
The feedback (from both sides of the fence) has been very helpful. Thanks.
queenswest became a joke of a site once it was “improved” and, therefore rendered nearly useless. also, all the arris folks, still the largest new dev to date to my understanding, created their own group because most, if not all, got sick of arrogant jake and his cronies at cl. this site seems to be decent so far, there has been some lively discussion, though i think it is curbed lic.
41, sorry, I just don’t see how you can honestly compare liQcity to curbed. True, the comments are by and large blunt on this site, but not filled with hateful tirades and insults. Leave liQcity as it is. And I’ll start using a name from now on.
I’d hate for this site to become either Curbed or Queenwest - both are a shame.
With this the case, its actually pretty sad to see those on the waterfront behaving that way in posts like #20 with their frustration that other areas of LIC are getting places like Sweet Leaf and Starbucks before they are.
I guess LIC is bigger than they thought.
well said above, lic is much bigger than the waterfront. let those people pay mkt rate and higher for thier view and lack of transportation options. i like it inland with a mulitude of transportation, and nothing but upside, thank you.
I think most people would prefer to live in more neighborhood-y, low-scale areas for less tangible reasons too. The behemoths that seem to get plunked down on redeveloping waterfront areas in urban settings — in Hoboken, Battery Park City, for instance — are never as charming and desirable as their older, more established surroundings. I heard all the economic reasons why developers must do what they do on Hunters Point’s waterfront, but you’ll never convince me it is desirable to live in a heartless box in some gargantuan tower.
Don’t worry, #45, we are getting plenty of heartless boxes in gargantuan towers inland, too.
yes Brandon, but inland there is more low-level construction that is likely to stick around. the waterfront has much less, and they tear them down with a vengance anyway so it’ll have a higher saturation of heartless boxes. inland lic is I think the better overall choice, esp when subway is so key… the waterfront is always accessible thanks to the parks.
#20 please define your boundries of LIC?
But they’re not building more waterfront, they can always build more around the subway. Did you people just starting learning about real estate? Location, location, location!!!!
#49 - If its all about location, location, location count me in as another one who wouldn’t buy in the waterfront in a million years. It is already overcrowded and overdeveloped with lifeless and depressing buildings with no architectural value.
The executives at Starbucks, who know a thing or two more about business than you obviously do, made the right call in investing in more parts of LIC. Time to wake up and smell the coffee (if there was a Starbucks near you). LIC is alot bigger than Jake and his Queenswest croanies would realize if they took their heads out of their asses for just a second and realize that there are a whole lot of options, most of them allot better to live in, other than waterfront in LIC.
#50 now that is what I call waterfront envy.
Starbucks has halted all new store openings because their quality is deteriorating, along with their stock value, due to fast growth. The SB in Citibank will just be a booth that is probably subsidized by the bank to keep their relocated employees happy and will only open during business hours. So let’s relax and not be so happy because you got a SB and the waterfront didn’t.
#51 - Its funny that when Starbucks planned to be on the waterfront, those on the waterfront were saying that it was the best thing ever, which was pretty comical to begin with considering the character that small original shops like Sweet Leaf bring to the community (yes - the part of LIC that is not the waterfront).
Now that Starbucks dumped the waterfront, it sucks and for that matter any business investing anywhere elsewhere in LIC has no absolutely no clue what its doing. What’s next that the Korean Deli is better than the Amish Market when they bail on the waterfront next?
You guys are too much. This is another reason why noone goes to Queenswest anymore. Do us a favor Jake, stick to your own site.
PS - by the way the only thing that is going down faster than Starbucks stock are the asking prices of units on sale at the waterfront so skip the arguments that you know anybetter than the executives at Starbucks thank you.
#52 not Jake and not everybody in the waterfront wanted SB to come, including me. I will not continue to argue with you about waterfront and inland LIC because I like them both.
Your argument about SB picking inland over waterfront makes no sense. So you are saying that SB execs decided to open a kiosk in Court Square as opposed to the waterfront because the waterfront is overcrowded. Wow, if that is true than now I know why SB’s stock is not doing well (we all know how retailers hate critical masses for their business). The truth is Citibank thought it would be a nice amenity for its employees to have a SB and it will also be an amenity for the surrounding condos that are being built in the area.
regency is back. hiya stupid.
anyone know what is cooking on jackson where the japanese restaurant was inbetweent the 7 train and citibank? thanks.
#53 You sound kind of arrogant for someone who just got “owned” by #52 - lol and sound like a complete arrogant ass to boot.
In one setence you indicate that you won’t continue to argue about the waterfront and inland LIC. In the next you state that #52s arguements about Starbucks picking inland versus waterfront makes no sense. Not to mention that you seem to be the person who started the whole discussion over inland vs. waterfront in this thread to begin with.
Is it so surprising that a firm chose a different location to the one that you live in? How can that be since you are obviously always right? How can it be that the highest prices to date both in absolute cost and $ persqft paid for condos in LIC to date are not on the waterfront? How can that be if your area is so great?
I hate to be one to share the news with you, but not all of us who invested in LIC view the LIC waterfront as Malibu. Apparently there are also alot of businesses who believe that there are better places elsewhere as well.
This isn’t about which place is better or worse. Simply please spare us the elitist attitude that everyone but you is an idiot and that the whole world or for that matter LIC revolves around the waterfront. Obviously it does not and LIC is a whole lot bigger than the handful of rental buildings, City Lights, and the Hunters Point South developments. Nuff said.
Well liqcity - hate to say this, but these commenters are starting to sound more and more like curbed.
#58 well said. That guy from #53 was really arrogant. I’m glad that #57 put him in his place. We don’t need Liqcity turning into another useless website like Curbed or Queenswest.
Zzz.
I just went for a run through Dutch Kills, it is super chill and all sorts of folks hanging out in the front yards and stoops and sidewalks and parks having a great time. I bet they don’t give a second thought to Starbucks or anyone’s condo towers. They seem to be too busy hanging out and enjoying their neighborhood and neighbors in the nice weather. Must be a nice life.
my dad could beat up your dad… and he can buy me a bigger condo.
interested too:
anyone know what is cooking on jackson where the japanese restaurant was inbetweent the 7 train and citibank? thanks.
#62, They are building a… Japanese hotel, best I know.
The anonymous vs “named” issue is such a red herring, as nobody who posts under a name is more identifiable than anon. So yes, keep it anon. I read the deleted post before it disappeared and I agree with your decision. Not all free speech is worth reading, especially when it’s personal and vicious. Its your blog, Liqcity, and your choice what’s allowed to appear here. Keep up the good work!
who is regency? and why does his name always come up.
thanks #63, interesting
63, a traditional Japanese hotel or a Western-style hotel run by a Japanese owner?
Went over to Sweet Leaf yesterday while my laundry was in the dryer, as the Brasil location on my street isn’t open on weekends… chill, friendly baristas (although I’m surprised they can afford/need two on a quiet sunday evening), good latte. Nice. Hope they do well.
thx brandon, where is sweet leaf?
Corner of 11 St and Jackson Ave.
thanks
The ‘Starbucks’ in the Citi lobby is not a Starbucks, it’s an Aramark
industrial catering kiosk with a ’serving coffee by Starbucks’ marketing package.
No T-MobileWiFi, either.
Welcome Sweet Leaf to the neighborhood! (would love Wifi….and as soon as your P/L allows an expanded location)
Great, let’s all go hang out in a corporate building’s lobby. Hunters Point truly has come full circle.