The weather’s not looking so good for this weekend, but we know there’s a bunch of die-hard condo buyers out there. Same round-up as last week and the week before. Don’t know what’s going on at the Foundry LIC – last week they had 12 available and this week they have 14. If anyone takes any good pics, send them our way.

The Foundry LIC 2-40 51st Ave, Hunters Point 14 still available Prudential Douglas Elliman Open House Sun, By appointment only

Complete list of this weekend’s open houses »

Not much has really changed since last weekend’s open houses – same developments still on the market. Some of them seem to have sold a few. That’s about it. Overall, we’re looking at the same story, except the weekend weather is supposed to be sunny and in the high 40′s. Have fun.

Powerhouse 50-09 2nd St, Hunters Point 19 still available Prudential Douglas Elliman Open House: By appointment only

Complete list of this weekend’s open houses »

Oy. We’ve been trying to figure out what’s going on at 11-15 50th Ave for some time now. Various sources have indicated that they’ve also been trying to figure it out, but chronically get no response from the developer. Oh, liQcity gave it a shot too of course. A woman on the phone said she had no idea if it was rental or condo, and that it currently has no other name besides 11-15 50th Ave.

We speculated it’s likely to be condo because the developer filed for a CPS1 period with the attorney general’s office, but now we’re seeing the teeny, tiny windows and wondering if that means it’s going to be rental. Large open windows are ideal in condo sales because obviously they’re more desirable to buyers, and owners pay their own heating bills (usually, if not, they’re lumped into condo fees). If it’s a rental building, small windows are preferred because the landlord picks up the heating bill. It’s unfortunate how tiny the windows look on this building as it currently will have gorgeous views of the skyline, especially on the west side of the building.

This morning, a special liQcity source gave us the scoop that the mystery building at 11-15 50th Ave, just south of Hunters View (by the Pulaski), filed a CPS1 with the Attorney General’s office. CPS1 = Cooperative Policy Statement 1. Essentially, this allows the developer to advertise the project in order to collect ‘expressions of interest’, before the offering plan is accepted. Usually a building does this to test the waters of going condo or rental.

The developer can’t market units with any specific sale prices while in a CPS1 phase, but can engage in general marketing. For example, The Kimaya is currently in this phase. If you read the fine print on their website, they don’t have an accepted offering plan, but the advertisement is pursuant to CPS1. Once the offering plan is accepted and on file with the Attorney General, a developer can market with specific sales prices and execute contracts.

According to the source »

There’s going to be lots of real estate activity in LIC this weekend. I can do a better job of predicting that than the weather people have been doing lately. And I’m not even using fancy technological modes of divination either—just the listing websites.

Drivers, just don’t take my parking spot please. And if you’re coming from Long Island, or some other land of driveways, take a few moments to teach yourself how to parallel park. I’ve been witnessing some seriously bad parking jobs, from drivers outright smashing into other cars, to people literally parking so badly they take up multiple precious spots. Sure, you’ll have a garage when you move into your luxury condo, but in the meantime you know… show some respect to the LIC curbside.

Here’s a round up of this weekend’s Open Houses »

It’s hard to get a unobstructed shot of the well-known condo development Fusion LIC, so liQcity photographer Jenni Snead fused (pun intended) one together. There’s an Open House this weekend for the 6 listings still on the market, all listed by Halstead.

Only thing better than a ‘Name that Dev’, is stumbling upon an identified new development that hasn’t really hit the presses. I’ve barely seen mention of this new addition to Jackson Ave, near the Purves twins. But here it is!

Roving liQcity photographer Jenni Snead reports:

“I discovered a new development being squeezed into a teeny, tiny lot between Dykes Lumber & Mr. Wonton on Jackson Ave. It’s going to be a high-rise; kind of a tall, skinny, triangular building that never quite meets a point at the top. There was no construction work started at the site yet but there was a big banner tied to the fence with the architect’s rendering. It is apparently going to be luxury lofts and office space. The development is called Kimaya Lofts and I got several photos of the sign itself and the lot it’s going to go in.”

Looks like your standard aerial shot of Queenswest, huh? Well it’s not. This is an excellently noted photo, labeling all of the new developments in view.

What’s interesting is the annotation of what I’ve been calling East Coast 3 as Rockrose Condos. That’s news to me, but hey…

Since I’m doing a blog about LIC now, I decided to poke back through my photo archives and dig up shots from the spring of 2006, when I was not working that much and spent days biking around LIC taking photos.

Wow. The neighborhood has transformed so significantly, but watching it day to day doesn’t really give you a sense of the progression. Looking at photographs from 1 & 1/2 years ago is a different story. I didn’t have time to edit all the shots, so here’s just a little taste.

Left– shot of the Gantry, on the corner of 49th & 5th St, from April 2006 while in construction:

After the jump, a shot of the Gantry today. »

I’ve been reading the Streeteasy message boards about LIC. Interesting stuff. One thread was a throwdown between LIC and Downtown Brooklyn (newly dubbed as DoBro). DoBro won on the amenities, since LIC’s $/sqft for luxury condos seems to be in about the same range. YES. DoBro should win on the amenities, but is that all a neighborhood comes down to? LIC never was, will be, or wants to be Downtown Brooklyn. LIC’s an industrial neighborhood that’s been heavily rezoned and is beginning to introduce the largest influx of residents in its history. DoBro, while it was and is a major commercial district, was not primarily an industrial hub and has a totally different aesthetic. It also has the Fulton Mall.

Bottom-line. If you don’t like an industrial aesthetic, don’t move to LIC. Even though, as some message board posters stated, the look of the new condos conjures up visions of Hoboken or Houston (?), the existing and surrounding aesthetic is primarily INDUSTRIAL. These were factories, people. Big, gigantic, fuel dumping factories. (Is there residual toxic pollution? YES. But that’s for another post.)

LIC’s amenities are lacking if you consider the $/sqft on a lot of the new luxury condos. Most of the marketing seems to be aimed at the convenience of Manhattan commuting, which is wise since it’s LIC’s strong point as a marketable neighborhood for new development. But amenities will always show up if the people do. Look at any neighborhood where there was a major influx of residents into a primarily industrial neighborhood. SoHo. Tribeca. Are there amenities there? I’ll let you answer that for yourself.

So this building on Borden Ave, One Hunters Point. Let’s just say I live near the construction site. According to the website and the hype etc, the condos seem like they’ll be the standard lux coming through LIC—perhaps even decently constructed. The developers had an extra obstacle to deal with while erecting the building: the Mid-town tunnel runs underneath part of the lot. They couldn’t build directly on the tunnel (someone’s thinking), but close enough that plans were scrutinized, and one can only hope this means intelligent engineers were actually hired. Of course, that has nothing to do with the interior finishings on the apartments.

I know they went around the block trying to buy everyone’s air rights…they definitely managed to get some since the building is 12/13 stories… and they got them at a steal if the $100/sf rumor is true.

So here’s something no one else will probably tell you »