Prism Condos, Borden Ave, LIC
Broker blogger Andrew Fine has the scoop on the building quietly (haha) going up next to One Hunters Point on Borden Ave, between Vernon & 5th St. Facing the LIRR Railyard.
“”The Prism” (working name for now), an 81 unit condo building, will rise 125 feet on Borden Avenue between 5th Street and Vernon. This no ordinary condo comes with a 24 hour color light clock. As you can see from the rendering »
Pigs Fly on 5th St, between 49th & 50th Aves, Hunters Point, LIC
Well, if Pigs were going to Fly anywhere in NYC it would be here »
Corner of Purves & Jackson, mystery Scarano building dubbed Vere 26 Condos, LIC
Around the time we first launched, liQcity covered the Scarano designed building at the corner of Purves St and Jackson Ave as a mystery development. Today, the name of the condo building has been revealed as Vere, or Vere26 Condos as indicated by the website address on the new signage. Currently, nothing on the website except for a holding page.
The L Haus Condos are materializing. Pulaski Bridge, Hunters Point, LIC
OCA/CUNY Dev Site, July 2008
The next BSA hearing for the very controversial OCA/CUNY development site on 5th Street is set for next Tuesday, August 19th. According to Queens Chronicle, the latest issue on the table is whether or not the OCA’s granting of space to the Queens Council on the Arts (QCA) counts as an official community benefit:
There’s one spot at the intersection of 11th street and Jackson Ave where you can stand in place and swivel around to catch four new developments taking shape around the Pulaski Bridge base. We checked in during the spring, and here’s the summer update:
First up is Hunters View, brother of One Hunters Point on Borden Avenue. The outer facade is almost finished, and it’s starting to look more like the condo building we all knew it would be. (Live like a rocket, right?) According to the sales agent, both buildings of the Hunters Point Condos are just over 50% sold.
Hunters View condo building, Jackson Ave, Pulaski Bridge, LIC
Dark skies over Court Square? April 2008, Long Island City
Interesting article this morning about the downsides of working in Court Square which included: lack of basic stores like pharmacies, grocery, dry cleaning etc, for errands during the day; the challenging commute from Jersey; the industrial ‘ghetto’-like vibe; few options for lunch. Upsides were: commuting from Brooklyn via the G train, quiet & low-key. Some felt that LIC offers a nice relief from congestion, others felt that Queens is beneath them. On this blog, we’ve heard a lot from the LIC resident point of view, but not so much from the working population.
Very heavy real estate weekend. I went to the Infofest thrown by Hunters Point Condos on Saturday at Lucky Mojo on 51st Ave. Unfortunately, I missed the speakers so I can’t tell you anything about that, but there was a strong attendance which was very well catered to by LM. Most of the sushi was gobbled up by the time I got there - for those of you who made cracks about free sushi - but I did finally get a chance to sample some of the BBQ and I will say that it was quite yummy.
On Sunday, the Puck building played host to what I’ve been calling the Condo Festival. Really it was the Observer’s Luxury Living Showcase, where the latest condo developments showed us their stuff. It was PACKED. Chaotic. Brokers everywhere. Booze before noon. The booths threw tons of free stuff at us, all emblazoned with the condo logos. Most notable was a new development offering their own condo branded hot sauce.
I have to say, I’m a little generally disappointed by the new breed of architecture. Most of the developments were barely indistinguishable from each other. An overabundance of big glassy towers. And not just in LIC… but all over the boroughs. NYC is getting buried in glass. There were a few nice brick developments, but that’s it.
The View at East Coast by Rockrose was the only LIC development on hand. And they were definitely under assault by throngs of brokers. I heard lots of questions about how one gets to LIC… and are there any restaurants there yet. Haha. Isn’t that the question of the month?
New is Beautiful in Long Island City. (?)
So Citi’s (are they not called Citicorp or Citibank anymore?) Two Court Square clocks in as LIC’s first official green building. There were other contenders, but TCS seems to have nailed the title. Interesting - they’re using 100% wind energy to power the building.
And the CUNY dorm site that can’t stay out of the news. That’s back in the mix - two articles reporting on a meeting held between the architects and some local artists. Is there any way to find out about these meetings before they happen?
Incidentally, the CUNY dorm proposal is on the table for the Community Board meeting on April 3rd. Here’s the deets.
Two Court Square by Citi is a green building! [Power Online]
CUNY’s LIC dorm gets tentative praise [Times Ledger]
The 11101 page on Everyblock [nyc.everyblock]
liQcity received sneakpeek renderings of the new Rockrose Eastcoast building that everyone is so in love with. There an interesting and funny watermark - in what we can only assume is an attempt to prevent brokers from marketing units in the building. (think?) Looks like it will work.
Officially titled The View at East Coast by Rockrose, the view heavy, corporately designed, 184-unit glass tower hits the market next month, starting at a whopping $1100/sqft.
Coincidentally reported, it seems Rockrose has offered all their current East Coast tenants a $500 rebate on rent, for every buyer they refer to The View. How sweet of them. The broker commissions are tens of thousands of dollars. But hey, who’s counting?
The smallest house in Long Island City - Courthouse Sq, Hunters Point
Good Monday morning liQcity readers. Some interesting tidbits in recent LIC news…did you know the Noguchi Museum is sinking? Well, apparently so. In other topographical news, the Newtown Creek, site of the potentially (ahem) largest oil spill in the world, is finally getting some money thrown at it for cleanup. We haven’t even touched the topic of toxicity in Long Island City, and you can bet that’s coming.
Sinking Noguchi Museum gets $8M [Daily News]
State Targets Brooklyn’s Ultra-Polluted Newtown Creek With $625G Grant [Brooklyn Eagle]
Signs of Spring: Putting the ‘Beach’ into Water Taxi Beach [Eater]
The end nears for Kosciuszko Bridge [Daily News]
Purves St, Court Sq, LIC
So the word on the street is 44-15 Purves St (or Purvis St, whatever suits your fancy) is going to break ground this spring, like everything else. It’s brought to us by the Lions Group, who also produced the top ten hits Vantage Purves and 10-50 Jackson Ave.
So far, the deets are: 57 units, condos, to be listed by Corcoran.
Purves really has some mojo going on. Not to mention this development site might produce a behemoth sibling as well.
- Photos of Purves St (Purvis) [liQcity Flickr]
Here’s a short clip of a lengthy Stoler Report about the development in Long Island City. Being interviewed are representatives from Cushman & Wakefield, Silvercup Studios, and Brause Realty. The full episode (16 minutes long) is available courtesy of a great new video sharing site aimed at the real estate industry, Wellcomemat. Here’s a 3 minute snippet that addresses the climate of purchasing real estate in Long Island City, and the amenities situation. What was of most interest (personally speaking) is the part towards the end where they address the fact that there is no national brand presence in LIC. Now, I’m not very sad about that, but from their perspective (broker and developer) it’s only a matter of time, and it’s desired of course, to foster the draw of the neighborhood.
The Echelon & Manhattan Skyline from Hunters Point, LIC
What? No Starbucks? According to the Racked article, there’s no reason cited for the deal dying, except speculation that Starbucks is limiting their ‘outer borough’ presence. Poor Queenswest. The little engine that couldn’t. Well, hopefully the Amish Market will come through someday. And the Duane Reade. In the meantime, QW’ers will just have to truck it all the way to Vernon for some local coffee, which is not half bad. In fact, some of it is darned good. We don’t even need or want a Starbucks - well not all of us. I know some were waiting for the chain, cigarettes and jitters in hand.
Powerhouses to the people [NY Times]
Who’s got the power?
1) Starbucks is coming to LIC. (deep sigh - c’mon we knew it was inevitable) One spot is the Eastcoast building, the other is an undisclosed location somewhere in Vernon/Jackson. We will keep you updated on that one fa sho.
2) The Zipper Building is not owned by Toll Brothers. We were misinformed. And strangely so, since the tipster was a Toll-er. Hmmm. Won’t be trusting that source again. Anyway, it’s a private owner (we could give you the property report page, but it’s boring) - the buzz is he’s holding for $20M. In the face of the July 2008 421-a expiration, we think that might be a long shot, but building owners in LIC (and NYC) can definitely be described as tenacious.
3) Trump’s son coming to Queens Plaza? Very random and vague tip about the progeny and a few partners from Long Island in contract on a conversion property on Jackson. Hmmm.
4) Stay tuned for some updates on the mystery dev located on Thompson & Purves, right near the Arris Lofts. Between Arris, the Purves siblings…there’s another condo building coming. Will they get the foundation poured by July 2008? Inquiring minds want to know.
5) The Powerhouse is looking nice, no?
421-a will make your head spin. But let’s see if we can sort it out a bit. The program, officially known as the 421a Tax Abatement, was created in the 70’s to encourage residential development in NYC. It offered developers a 10-25 year abatement on real estate taxes, which were passed on to the buyers of those newly constructed condos and coops. (ie, they don’t have to pay real estate taxes - abatement - you no pay)
Back then, the real estate market needed some serious stimulation. After a certain point, it became clear that lack of residential development was no longer an issue, so the program created ‘exclusion zones’ which required developers to create a minimum of 20% affordable housing units in order to receive the abatement.
Cut to now; when the Hunters Point section of LIC was famously rezoned in 2001, developers were granted a 421-a tax abatement of 15 years in order to encourage development in our little neighborhood. As of July of 2008, the honeymoon’s over. Hunters Point enters the ‘exclusion zone’ and developers will have to meet the affordable housing criteria in order to get the tax abatement. Any building with their foundation poured before July 2008 will still receive the abatement without the affordable housing requirement. But after… it’s a whole different ballgame.
So what does that mean for future development in Hunters Point? »
This is not the usual rat one sees at a construction site, or is it?
Yesterday, liQity photographer Jenni Snead stumbled across a union protest against One Hunters Point for employing non-union workers:
“The first thing I saw when I came out of the subway was the giant, blow-up strike rat on the corner of Vernon & Borden. I snapped a few shots and spoke briefly with the strikers, who claimed they had been on this site for months now, just not with the inflatable rat. I got a photo of one of the guy’s embroidered jacket - Dockbuilders Local Union 1456″. I wandered away when one of the construction workers walked down to the picket line and started getting upset, saying not to take his picture, etc.”
Hmmm, a union striker not wanting publicity? Interesting. Anyway, we hope the giant rat scares away the real ones.
Arris Lofts at 27-28 Thomson Ave, Courthouse Square, LIC
I visited Arris Lofts a long time ago, back in the day when they were still cool. IE before all the Arris bashing began on curbed.com. I can’t really say I blame the bashers, since the building had some ‘curiosities’ even before we heard about the hookers.
For those not in the know, Arris Lofts hit the market last year, and wins the prize for being the most controversial development project in LIC. What they did right: they didn’t knock the building down, but renovated that gorgeous, odd-shaped industrial building; they emphasized large windows and the high ceilings (both already there, but Arris needs points so let’s give them another one), they used Costas Kondylis. Well that last one remains to be seen, because even on my visit I was very confused by 1BR’s with 2.5 bathrooms, and the kitchen being just a console on the living room wall.
Anyway, after all the hoopla, turns out Arris Lofts is still buzzing through the wire, and word’s not so good. Except for this word.
11-15 50th Ave, Hunters Point
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.
Casa Vizcaya’s coming along nicely. Haven’t seen too much chatter about this development, except of course, the usual LIC bashing on curbed. A search for listings pulls up seven, all listed by Corcoran. Seems like prices have dropped since the original offerings, but don’t quote me on that.
As an interesting side note, these are the same developers bringing us the Kimaya Lofts on Jackson Ave.
For some more construction shots on the Viz, as well as a glimpse of what else is on that street, check out our flickr set. One lucky bonus Casa Vizcaya enjoys, is the proximity to my favorite bar in LIC, the LIC bar on the corner of 46th Rd & Vernon. Killer place.
A collaged view of Fusion LIC, 4251 Hunter St, Courthouse Sq, LIC
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.
Star Building at 42-26 28th St
We’re running into some more unidentified conversions going on in LIC. How surprising. The latest one is the old Star building, which is located near the Fusion LIC site in Courthouse Square. It seems work has just recently begun. Anyone have any knowledge of what’s happening to the Star Building?
From Forgotten-NY: “Long Island Star building, 28th Street and 42nd Road, was home to the Long Island City Daily Star, founded in 1865 by Thomas Todd, memorialized in a plaque on the building’s exterior. The paper merged with Flushing’s North Shore Journal in the 1930s and soldiered on until 1968 as the Long Island Star-Journal. Developers have it in their gunsights.”
Seems there could be a whole blog just dedicated to Name That Development in Hunters Point, considering how many there are.
Well, regardless, here’s another one discovered: 44-30 Purvis (aka Purves) St. This site also wraps around to Thompson, facing a very notorious neighbor: Arris Lofts. Maybe the hookers will expand their territory? Well, they’ll have to wait a while, because it looks like the development site is still up for sale. Here’s the listing, as advertised by Greiner-Maltz.
For some more shots of the dev site, including a peek through the fence, check out the flickr set.
The weekends are usually a chill time in LIC. The area is still pretty commercial, especially if you count the buildings in progress as sites of commercial activity, which I do. So from 7am to about 4pm on weekdays the neighborhood is packed to the gills with people, and then at night and on the weekends it thins out and quiets down.
Not anymore.
This weekend the hood was PACKED with people filing into the sales offices for the Foundry LIC, Powerhouse, 5SL… everything! Usually on nights and weekends, one can park with ease - FORGET about trying to park in LIC during business hours. All spots are usually taken by 6am. It’s worse than the Upper West Side. On nights and weekends, the commercial people aren’t around so much, so it’s much easier. But this Sunday, I thought twice about taking my car out for a spin after eyeing several Long Island-y types driving around stalker style.
At least all the new developments come with parking spots. That should help a bit. But in the meantime, we’re losing our weekend parking. It’ll be a nice day when those little blocks off of Vernon get resident parking. Who knows if that will happen, but those of us who don’t live in the high-rises with parking need to be protected. Right?
Don’t worry. I’m not holding my breath.
All references to this multi-named building are 26-26 Jackson Ave, 44-01 Purves, or Corner of Purves. (DOB even has it as Purvis) Let’s go with Corner of Purves.
Corner of Purves & Jackson
The building went up very quickly, and then there was work stoppage for a good while. Seems like things have picked back up, because DOB (Dept of Buildings) has a complaint filed today against the building for unsafe working conditions. Interestingly enough, the Certificate of Occupancy is for a garage and factory.
Upon doing some digging, it’s been uncovered that the building is going to be 43 units, mixed residential and commercial, and designed by controversial architect Richard Scarano. He’s controversial for many reasons… here’s one, and here’s another, and if you want more….
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