Long Island City
Buy Now? No, Buy Later
Welcome to the buyer's market: Supply is up, demand is down, and prices are teetering. Brokers say buy now – after all, there are deals to be had! But what if you waited?
Here’s four areas (and one borough) where buyers would be fools to rush in now.
1. MANHATTAN
In Manhattan, prices are falling. But several gauges indicate that, in the months ahead, they'll fall even further.
For one, new development – which accounted for 30 percent of sales in the borough last quarter – continues to skew prices, according to the third-quarter market report from Miller Samuel and Prudential Douglas Elliman. read more »
The Local: Work Life In Long Island City
It’s not every day that you hear New Yorkers complaining about the absence of a Starbucks or a Duane Reade, but the chains that are so often maligned in Manhattan lately are just the type of convenience that people working in Long Island City miss the most.
When Deborah, a Citigroup employee, learned that she was being transferred from Manhattan to Long Island City 10 years ago, she was less than enthusiastic about the move.
“When I first heard I thought, 'Ugh, Long Island City,' because I’d never heard about it,” said during a mid-Monday morning smoke break outside the neighborhood’s first high-rise, high-profile office building, Court Square One. read more »
How Government Action Changed Long Island City
The Financial Times' Jeremy Lemer parachutes into Long Island City and relays the massive changes in the neighborhood back to the folks in Europe.
Interestingly, he weaves how government actions, particularly zoning changes, helped spur LIC's rapid development:
In 1981 it was zoned as a mixed use district. Then, as now, Romanesque Revival terraced houses stood cheek-by-jowl with factories - home to builders' yards, elevator repair companies and printing shops. ...
Zoning changes have, belatedly, had rapid and far reaching effects. Inland, a 2004 rezoning has transformed the Hunters Point mixed-use area by allowing industrial sites to be converted to residential uses. "The rezoning made a lot of millionaires," says [property broker Andrew] Fine.
I wrote in last week's Observer about how a large rezoning in Williamsburg and Greenpoint spurred not only rapid residential development, but also recent home-price jumps (see chart above).
Long Island Rock City!
Robert Prichard hopes to illuminate Long Island City with some emphatic Times Square-style signage.
“I’d like it to be visible from the 59th Street Bridge,” he said. “First, it flashes ‘Queens,’ then ‘Bridge,’ then ‘Theater,’ and then ‘Queensbridge Theater.’ And then maybe an arrow that lights up and points down to our loading dock.”
Mr. Prichard, 52, has long had a flair for the dramatic. This is the same guy, after all, who nearly a decade ago led a conga line up Avenue A in protest of the city’s antiquated cabaret laws. read more »
A Long Island City Business Gets Jamaica's Tax Breaks
In an unusual arrangement, the City Council on Thursday voted to let a Long Island City business take advantage of tax breaks that usually go along with the Empire Zone in Jamaica.
The concept of these "regionally significant projects" is a little controversial, since Empire Zones are set up to benefit a particular neighborhood or region. read more »
Hell’s Kitchen Is Too Pretty For Reality TV
Related's Ross: Big Announcement Coming!
Mr. Ross is also chairman of the Real Estate Board of New York.
- Tom AcitelliRangel's Cake
Charlie Rangel, who said he doesn't want to see the debate about Medicaid spending turn into a "food fight," seemed ready for one on Saturday in Long Island City, where he was awarded the the Kung Hwa Medal by the Korean government.
[Photo credit: Grace Meng.]
-- Azi PaybarahThe Afternoon Wrap: Friday
- Seven reasons for Queens' impending triumph: Long Island City; more bang-for-buck; it's not Jersey; the "tipping point"; Trader Joe's; community blogs; and, most importantly, Ugly Betty. [OuterB]
- Why should NYC ban traffic on Williamsburg's main stretch? Because hipsters deserve their own esplanade, and because "preserving the small town quality of Williamsburg and allowing for a more vital street life" sounds like a dandy idea. [Carefree Bedford, via Curbed]
- It's about 18 months too late to notice that "the cobblestone streets, the deep history, the architecture, and the harbor views" have made Wall Street a hip place to live. But if you like Armani-branded condos, this weekend is full of thrilling financial district open houses. [NY Mag/D.I.]
- Map of the Day: Where do NYU kids go after freshman year? Invariably, from Washington Square to Alphabet City, from "East" Williamsburg to Yorkville, from the West Village to Westchester. [L Mag] - Max Abelson
Umbrella Deal Means Changes for Office Buildings
Citigroup will need to draft up a new logo now. File this under slightly irrelevant, but what's this mean for real estate? Well, when they create the new logo it will mean a new top for three distinguished city properties: 666 Fifth Avenue; Court Square Two in Long Island City; and the top of the new Mets stadium in Queens.
- John KoblinThe Round-Up: Thursday
- West Village buildings on market for $101.5M. [GlobeSt]
- Freedom Tower construction visible from sidewalk. [NY Times]
- Port Authority acquiring lease for Stewart Airport. [NY Times]
- DA charges Queens broker with fraud. [NY Times]
- Long Island City "something of a boomtown." [NY Post]
- Glitzy replacement for Coney Island's Astroland. [Daily News]
- Fire fears for new Sheepshead Bay condos. [Daily News]
- Lawyers, guns & money--Brooklyn landlord dispute. [Daily News]
- Manhattan Avenue stretch nears historic designation. [NY Sun]
- Diamond District losing its luster? [NY Sun]
- A profile of Long Island City activist Erik Baard. [NY Sun]
- Officials try to alter Trump's Soho condo-hotel. [NY Sun]
- "Cheap financing" fueling city's real estate. [NY Sun]
- Blackstone raises its bid for Equity Office. [Crain's]
Did we miss any New York City real estate news this morning? Please send along tips and links.
Events for Friday, January 19, 2007
At 10:30 a.m., the East River Development Alliance and elected officials help residents prepare their taxes in Long Island City.
And at 7 p.m., Young Republicans watch a documentary critical of the environmental movement called Mine Your Own Business on West 57th Street
-- Azi PaybarahDone: MetLife in 1095 Avenue of the Americas
The release says that MetLife will keep a "substantial ongoing presence" in super-spurned Long Island City. Whatever. It's all further evidence that no one wants to take the E or V train.
But don't tell that to the Elghanayans.
Release after the jump. read more »
- John KoblinThe Long Island City Mystery
There's an interesting wrinkle to this story that hasn't been widely discussed, so far as I know, which is: What happened to Long Island City? The bill was supposed to expand the exclusionary zone to cover neighborhoods that are probable sites of future luxury housing development, such as Fort Green and Lower Manhattan. The best predictor of future luxury development, of course, is present luxury development. And by that measure, Long Island City is one of the fastest-growing areas of the city. In a recent report, the Pratt Center for Community Development profiled numerous luxury buildings outside the old exclusionary zone that were benefiting from the tax break; 12 of the buildings, a healthy percentage of the case studies, were located in Long Island City. All told, these buildings were receiving more than $75 million in subsidies.
Except for a sliver of undeveloped land along the East River waterfront, however, most of Long Island City was left untouched by the council's expansion of the exclusionary zone. And Silvercup West, a $1.2 billion development sponsored by the movie studio of the same name, was specifically exempted. Why? I contacted the office of City Councilman Eric Gioia, who represents the area, but I haven't heard back. Silvercup apparently had some complicated regulatory issues that led to its exemption. It seems possible that the city, which is building an affordable housing complex along the waterfront, on the site where NYC 2012 planned to build its Olympic Village, feels that 5,000 such units are enough for one neighborhood. And someone (ok, it's Azi again) points out that Gioia raises a lot of money and has ambitions to run for citywide office. Keeping a swath of prime land open for unfettered development is the sort of thing real estate folks tend to remember when it's check-writing time. Still, $75 million is a lot of money to leave on the table.
I'm stumped. Is there an explanation that I'm missing? Please fill me in.
UPDATE: Eric Gioia's very friendly chief of staff, Jerel Klue, took time out of his holiday to call me back. He says that, although most of the buildings cited in the Pratt report would not fall under the new exclusionary zone, all of the Queens waterfront would. He took issue with my characterization of that area as a "sliver." Though it may not be wide, Klue said, the area is zoned for high-density development--high-rise buildings and the like. "That is the area that's really booming," he added. "And that is the area where there is a real opportunity to create affordable housing."
-- Andrew RiceThank You, Mr. Mayor: Queens West Affordable Housing Not So Affordable
The 5,000 rental apartments slated for the 24 acres on the Long Island City waterfront are targeted at families making from $60,000 to $145,000 a year. Rents at Queens West are slated to be $1,200 to $2,500 a month.
Bloomberg: He doesn't rent.
Thing is, however, most Queens residents, including civil servants like firefighters and cops, can't afford those rents, according to a recent study (PDF) from the Pratt Center for Community Development. Crain's reports this week that the study found that the median household income in Queens was $45,000 in 2005, below Queens West's minimum income requirement. For civil servants, the median income was $56,000, also below the income requirement. read more »
These statistics seem to buck Mayor Bloomberg's declaration that Queens West would "provide much-needed housing for the real backbone of our city - our teachers, nurses, police officers."
- Tom AcitelliThe Afternoon Wrap: Friday
- What are Cooper Union students doing about the impending destruction of the Hewitt Building? They're staging school-wide walkouts (and tossing around cruel words like disenfranchisement). Apparently, these young artists really don't want to move out to studios in Long Island City, where they'll work until Cooper Union gets a newer and greener $120 million building. [Villager]
- The Opening Paragraph of the Day, presented in its glorious entirety: Park Slope's pampered tykes might soon have one more reason to love life in Brooklyn. FAO Schwarz -- toy store and child magnet since 1862 -- said this week it might open a satellite shop in the Slope. [Brooklyn Papers]
- Down in the Financial District, $90 million will help pay for a luxury condo conversion. So, the old Chase Manhattan Bank HQ will turn into "20 Pine," with $90 million-worth of ebony-stained hardwood floors, high-end wooden cabinetry, Hudson River views, a pool, a spa, a yoga studio and, best of all, a golf simulation room. [Multi-Housing News]
- Brownstoner reports that Joshua Guttman (who has the world's "universal contempt") is going to tear down a Dumbo foundry built by Brooklyn Bridge man E.W. Bliss. Or will 205 Water Street (aka 188 Plymouth) be saved by local preservationists? Tune in tomorrow. [Brownstoner] - Max Abelson
Diamond District Developer Nabs Tax Breaks, Now Needs Tenants
IDA: If you build it, they'd better come.
The city's Industrial Development Agency (IDA) this morning approved a controversial tax-incentive package to encourage development of a snazzy New York Diamond Tower on 47th Street.
While critics charged that the new building would merely "poach" existing tenants from older buildings in the city's ancient Diamond District, interim IDA Chairman Joshua J. Sirefman asserted that the tower would instead keep diamond-related enterprises from abandoning the old area altogether.
"Not only will the creation of a 21st-century facility provide an opportunity for industry growth, it will ensure that the site, which is in the heart of the District and is an attractive location for other commercial or residential uses, remains diamond- and jewelry-related, helping to keep the Diamond District intact," Mr. Sirefman said in a press release.
According to the IDA's rather rosy written analysis of the deal, the project would also generate between $134 million and $149 million in revenues for the city over 20 years.
But in order to take advantage of up to $49.6 million in approved tax benefits, tower developer Gary Barnett of Extell Development must first live up to certain occupancy standards.
If, for instance, he "fails to fill at least 65 percent of the new building with diamond- and jewelry-related occupants and at least 20 percent with businesses that are new to or expanding in the city," the developer gets no breaks to speak of.
Read the IDA's full announcement after the jump. read more »
- Chris ShottFriday: UNIQLO, Belltel, and "Pimping" the Martime Industry in Red Hook
- Hamptons Post-Mortem: Now that the neighborhood is officially dead, isn't it nice to remember those 3-acre estates with private marshes and cutesy docks and six-bedroom Mediterranean castles and "heated infinity pools" and spas and putting ranges and basketball courts? It really brings back some great memories. (Luxist)
- Out in Queens, NYC is buying 24 acres of Long Island City waterfront for $100 million. There won't be any spas, but 5,000 new units of housing is a good idea anyway. (Crain's, via Real Deal)
- In case you haven't seen its 7,239,103 advertisements, Japan's chic UNIQLO is opening a New York flagship on Broadway. Western designers will be designing the high-end (but inexpensive) sweaters and (slim) trousers. Hipsters rejoice. (New York Mag/D.I.)
- There are over 500 people waiting to see the new condos at 365 Bridge Street--once called the New York Telephone Building, now "The Belltel Lofts." Art Deco is so in right now. (Brownstoner)
- But the mayor's plan to "pimp" the Red Hook/Cobble Hill waterfront into a "maritime-themed tourist attraction" is not so popular. Why? Because it will kill Brookyln's maritime industry. And because it's a maritime-themed tourist attraction. (Brooklyn Papers) - Max Abelson
Morphosis Morphs Into Mitchell-Lama
Queens West as Morphosis once saw it
The proposed Olympic Village site in Long Island City--that Corbusian one designed by Morphosis--will become the location of a new Mitchell-Lama-type rental complex for the city's middle class under an agreement announced today between the city and the Port Authority. A rare confluence of interests: For $146 million, the Port Authority gets rid of the part of Queens West which was probably the least attractive to market-rate developers anyway (furthest from Hunters Point), and the Mayor gets to add between 4,000 and 5,000 affordable units to his New Housing Marketplace total. That is not to say the Morphosis design will survive: the chosen developers may be able to build higher and more densely than Thomas Mayne ever was. read more »
The 24 acres are expected to get bid out at the end of next year. The city is anticipating that it will offer developers $54,000 per unit in subsidies, and the apartments will rent between $1,200 and $2,500. Get in line!
-Matthew SchuermanCoffin Company Is Latest Brooklyn Casualty
Not the final resting spot?
According to Brooklyn Papers:
The company is looking at industrial sites in Long Island City -- and neighbors are treating it like a funeral.
And when the lot goes on the market? read more »
They'll make a killing selling their property.Curbed then piles on the wisecracking dirt with a nice set up about the coffin makers' inevitable condominium replacement:
...how about calling the place The Eternity?- Chris Shott
For ‘Ultimate Insider,’ It’s Sunnyside Up
For 'Ultimate Insider,' It's Sunnyside Up
Events for August 10-11, 2006
The New York Young Republican Club holds a political forum.
Tomorrow, Eric Gioia presents a proclamation and Homework Helpers donates computers and equipment to the Phoenix House in Long Island City.
—Nicole Brydson'I Don't Have Time to Use FreshDirect!'
Mmmm ... refrigerated Cheez-Its!
Participating buildings are installing refrigerators and freezer units in common areas to receive FreshDirect deliveries and these buildings will enjoy a reserved early delivery timeslot which will eliminate the need for their residents to wait at home for their deliveries.
It's called the Preferred Building Program. When did apartment buildings start sounding so much like airlines? read more »
Says FreshDirect president Steve Michaelson:
Our service receives praise from the ever-growing FreshDirect customer base for its ease-of-use, convenience, and high-quality food. By working with developers, we hope to make using FreshDirect even easier and keep our food fresher for our customers. Now, our customers don’t have to wait for the food - the food will wait for them.The whole sordid tale, in press-release form but cunningly packaged as a ready-made "latest amenity" trend piece (look for it in tomorrow's editions of amNewYork!) after the jump.
Gantry Park Breaks Ground
Groundbreaking on the second stage of the Gantry Plaza State Park, on the East River waterfront in Long Island City, started today. This is the largest stage of the construction of the park, which will see 12 new acres of open parkland, a playing field and a 1.25-mile long esplanade that'll span the length of the Queens West development, according to an Empire State Development press release.
The park is named for the giant gantries (pictured) that used to lift cargo from ships to waiting railroad cars. We never knew what these giant things were; I guess now we do. Sort of. read more »
- Matthew GraceOlympics Land Grab Leaves Architect High and Dry
Olympics Land Grab Leaves Architect High and Dry
Talking Numbers
With Virginia as the main attraction, the Democracy for NYC Meet Up in Long Island City last night drew 9 attendees; 4 of them were either organizers or people providing technical assistance to Democracy for NYC, an offshoot of the Dean campaign. read more »
We saw similarly low numbers at a mayoral forum in the Soundview section of the Bronx, where Giff and another Democrat stopped by. After we surveyed the rows of empty seats, one reporter noted, "There were 15 people, but five of them were pastors. What do you think they're going to tell their congregations?"
