Envisioning the future of America’s most diverse locale
Long Island City’s renaissance brings a new cool to Queens Luxury housing, hotels spring up across the borough
Photo by Cat Cutillo
Queens West, the multi-billion-dollar luxury housing complex on the shores of the East River, has spearheaded the LIC real estate frenzy.
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE 6. New Soho East A real estate bonanza is transforming Long Island City into a prime destination.
10. Vibrant arts scene Artists remained committed to Long Island City as the area becomes gentrified.
12. Neighbor watch Young urbanites and families are moving into Long Island City.
14. Frontier life
40 Transit challenges Pressure builds on the MTA to upgrade subways, buses and LIRR
The old industrial area retains some of its urban charm as retailers trickle in.
32. Condo haven
16. Community blueprint
36. Borough legends
Architects envision a greener neighborhood of the future.
New luxury apartments join stock in Forest Hills.
Queens preservations fight to landmark the old next to the new.
24 Zoning revival Downtown Jamaica is poised for a resurgence.
20. More rooms Hotels planned in western Queens to meet high demand.
22. Luxury living New projects promise to change the face of downtown Flushing.
28. Play ball The Mets hit a home run with new green stadium.
44. America’s playground Three projects are reviving the Rockaways.
48. JFK face-lift Two new terminals at Kennedy bring airport into 21st century
50. Numbers game The lowdown on the people, the projects and the big bucks that are making Queens hot.
The Queens of tomorrow is rising in Long Island City, which has become the new frontier for both young urbanites and empty nesters in search of more affordable living just 10 minutes away from midtown Manhattan. Nearly 40 residential buildings are under development in the neighborhood that still has strong ties to its manufacturing past with warehouses and factories scattered among the bold towers of brick, steel and glass. A number of artists put down roots in the evolving area some years ago, setting up lofts in the industrial buildings that share the turf with several nationally recognized art institutions and two major film studios. Not surprisingly, the community is now being touted as the new Soho. The newcomers filling the 5,000 luxury condos and market rate apartments planned for Long Island City are drawn by larger living space for less dollars with drop-dead views across the East River thrown into the equation. Some are young professionals fleeing the high cost of Manhattan, while others are moving to the borough to raise families, but many are pioneers at heart who want to put their own stamp on a new community. The jackhammers also are at work farther east in bustling downtown Flushing, where construction of Muss Development’s Skyview Parc luxury housing and retail complex has been underway for more than a year. When completed, the project will have 1,000 luxury condos in six residential towers that sit on top of an elevated park with basketball courts, a running track and pool. The massive residential and commercial Willets Point project, which would create 5,500 housing units, is entering the first phase of the public review process. Over in Jamaica, where 368 blocks were rezoned last fall, a series of ambitious projects is on the drawing board to transform the downtown area. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer on a new $12 million Sutphin Boulevard underpass at the Long Island Rail Road station, bringing retail shops, cafes and newsstands to the gateway to Jamaica. A few stops away on the AirTrain, Kennedy Airport is undergoing its own renaissance with passengers shuttling through the new high-tech American Airlines Terminals 8 and 9, which opened last fall, and JetBlue’s Terminal 5 project due to start operations later this year. And in the Rockaways two large-scale residential developments, Arverne by the Sea and Water’s Edge, have sparked a boom in sales of both market rate condos and affordable housing units to buyers who want to own a stake in the future of the borough. The Editors
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LIC: City’s new hotspot for urbanites
Photos: Cat Cutillo
boom town
Hunters Point, Queens West anchor metamorphosis of once-industrial neighborhood BY NATHAN DUKE There is proof of Long Island City’s reputation as the city’s fastest growing residential community on corners all across the neighborhood, which only two decades ago used to be a hardscrabble industrial landscape. Developers are banking on Long Island City’s appeal to young urbanites to fill 5,000 units, including condominiums and market rate apartments in various stages of development at 38 new buildings. Just a 10-minute subway ride from Manhattan, Long Island City is being touted as the new Soho with numerous ambitious ventures planned over the next several years. New schools, green space, a community library, retail and office space are all part of the building boom. “On the residential side, there’s project after project going up,” said Andrew Ebenstein of the Long Island City Business Improvement District. “There’s nearly 6 million square feet of total development underway, including residential, commercial, hotel and retail space. And [projects] in the planning phase could double that 6 million square feet in the next several years.” Paul Januszweski, president of the Queens West Development Corp., said young professionals from Manhattan make up the largest group of people moving into the neighborhood, but the project’s developers also hope to lure families to the community. “There’s definitely an interest to attract families who will be committed to the neighborhood,” he said. “We want to make a permanent community.” Construction is scheduled to begin on a new building every six months at the massive Queens West development project along Vernon Boulevard and all 19 buildings will probably be completed by 2012, said Januszewski, president of the Queens West Development Corp., a citystate Port Authority partnership. That project includes 11 residential towers developed by the state and another eight designed by the city for affordable housing. 6
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The Powerhouse, designed by architect Karl Fischer, is a condominium rising But an additional 21 apartment towers also are under development in the neighborhood, such as a Rockrose tower near Court Square and a luxury apartment building known as The Gantry on 5th Street. Other buildings are being erected throughout the community, including 11 new hotels and a 1.5 million-square-foot tower developed by Tishman Speyer at the current site of the Queens Plaza Garage that will include commercial office space and retail, Ebenstein said. Although some artists from Long Island City said they were being priced out of the
The East Coast towers are part of the massive Queens West development’s first phase along Center Boulevard in Long Island City. neighborhood, forcing them to search for housing in less expensive borough communities such as Ridgewood, the western Queens arts community still is thriving. The community is home to two of the city’s major film and television production studios — Silvercup Studios in Long Island City
and Kaufman Astoria Studios — and features a number of nationally recognized arts institutions. These include performance art space The Chocolate Factory, Astoria’s Museum of the Moving Image, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Socrates Sculpture Park in Astoria and the Noguchi Museum, which displays the artwork of sculptor Isamu Noguchi and has a sculpture garden. Major upcoming, non-residential developments in the community include a City University of New York project on 47th Avenue that will have market-rate housing and graduate student housing, 6,000 square feet of retail, a health club and an 87-car parking garage. Silvercup Studios along Vernon Boulevard is undertaking a $1 billion expansion that will include new studio space, 1,000 apartment units and a waterfront pavilion. Mimicking the Manhattan skyline across the East River, the 74-acre Queens West development is the largest project along the western Queens waterfront. The first two of the massive development’s four phases include 11 buildings, which have been developed by Avalon Communities Inc. through the state’s Empire Development Corporation. The remaining phases — known as Hunters Point South — will include affordable housing and retail space, which will be created by developer Rockrose through the city’s Economic Development Corporation. Queens West, a project estimated at $2 billion, is bounded by Newtown Creek to the south, the East River to the west, 44th Drive to the north and 2nd and 5th streets to the east. Queens West will create an estimated 44,000 new apartment units and space for retailers, including Duane Reade and Amish Market, in the mostly residential neighborhood. The state’s portion of the project will also include a 22,000-square-foot neighborhood library at Center Boulevard and 48th Street, as well as 13 acres of waterfront park space and several schools. Januszweski said five of the project’s
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out of the ruins of the former Pennsylvania Railroad Power House at 51st Avenue and 2nd Street. buildings are completed, including Avalon Riverview, Avalon Riverview North, the 42-story Citylights building and the two East Coast towers, with three more scheduled to open this spring. Scattered along 48th Street and Center Boulevard, the completed buildings stand between 299 feet and 390 feet tall, ranging in units from Avalon Riverview’s 327 apartments to East Coast Tower I’s 650 apartments. Several of the towers being constructed in the neighborhood resemble high-rise Florida condos. Four acres of the project’s park space, known as Gantry Plaza State Park, were constructed during the first stage of Queens West, while an additional nine acres, which will be known as Peninsula Park, will be completed during the second stage, Januszewski said. Both parks are between Center Boulevard and the waterfront. One pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade school, PS 78, has already opened under the project in the Citylights building and a kindergarten through eighth-grade school will be built between 5th Street and Center Boulevard during the project’s second phase, Januszewski said. One of the most controversial aspects of the project is the construction of a $19 million community library on Center Boulevard between 47th Road and 48th Avenue, which western Queens elected officials and residents have requested for several years. Januszweski said the long-delayed site will soon be remediated and that construction should begin by fall 2009. The project has been stalled due to a lack of funding, he said. Queens Library spokesman Jimmy Van Bremer said the project still needs $5 million for furniture, equipment, books, materials and desks. “We’ve been committed to getting this built and the community has been tremendous in its advocacy for the project,” he said. Hunters Point South, the city’s portion of
Queens West, is still in the planning phases and a developer has not yet been secured for the project, city Economic Development Corporation spokeswoman Janel Paterson said. It will make up stages three and four of the massive development project and will include an estimated 5,000 units of housing, of which 60 percent will be affordable housing, she said. Hunters Point South will also have 10 acres of open space, retail development and a school, she said. Western Queens leaders said the city’s portion of Queens West could not come quickly enough. “Right now, affordable housing does not exist at Queens West,” Community Board 2 Chairman Joseph Conley said. “Affordable housing is what we need for people to stay in New York City to live and work. We have a diverse population, so we need a diversity in housing.” David Brause, of Manhattan-based Brause Realty, said Long Island City apartments typically sell between $600 to $1,000 per square foot and that some units in the neighborhood cost upward of several million dollars. He said apartment rental prices vary, but that a typical large, one-bedroom unit would likely rent for $50 per foot per year, or an average $2,300 per month. In mid-April, apartment rentals at Queens West’s Avalon Riverview building were listed for $2,035 to $4,622 per month. The apartments ranged from studios to three-bedroom units in sizes from 482 to 1,452 square feet. Sale prices for Citylights apartments during that same period of time ranged from a $355,000 studio to a $675,000 two-bedroom unit with a balcony. And Brause said the development of new, high-end apartment buildings is not slowing down in the neighborhood. “If you walk down Jackson Avenue or Center Boulevard, you see crane after crane,” he said. Q UEENS TOMORROW 2008
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Project Name
Project Address
1
10-40 46th Rd.
10-40 46th Rd.
2
10-63 Jackson Ave.
10-63 Jackson Ave.
3
11-11 50th Ave.
11-11 50th Ave.
4
11-17 49th Ave.
11-17 49th Ave.
5
12-01 Jackson
12-01 Jackson Ave.
6
The Foundry LIC
2-40 51st Ave.
7
27-16 41st Ave.
27-16 41st Ave.
8
41-50 24th St.
41-50 24th St.
9
5-49 Borden Ave.
5-49 Borden Ave.
10
41-38 Crescent St.
41-38 Crescent St.
11
Fusion LIC
42-51 Hunter St.
12
47-36 11th St.
47-36 11th St.
13
Citibank 1
1 Court Square
14
5th Street Lofts
5-05 48th Rd.
15
Arris Lofts
27-28 Thomson Ave.
16
Avalon @ Center Blvd. Queens West # 8, 9
17
Citibank 2
18
Corner of Purves
44-01 Purves St.
19
40-01 29th St.
40-01 29th St.
20 29-02 39th Ave. 21
44-20 Hunter St.
29-02 39th Ave.
Echelon LIC
13-11 Jackson Ave.
22 The Ravel Hotel
42-09 Vernon Blvd.
23 5-07 50th Ave.
5-07 50th Ave.
24
East Coast LIC
47-01 Center Blvd.
25 East Coast LIC
47-20 Center Blvd.
26 East Coast LIC
Unknown
27
27-01 Queens Plaza N.
MetLife Plaza
28 The Badge Building
46-44 11th St.
29 The Crecent Club
41-17 Crescent St.
30 The Gantry
5-15 49th Ave.
31
The Power House
50-09 2nd St.
32 The Queens Plaza
41-26 27th St.
33 UNFCU
24-01 44th Rd.
34 10-50 Jackson
10-50 Jackson Ave.
35 Vantage Purves
44-27 Purves St.
36 View 59
41-48 Crescent St.
37
10-30 Jackson Ave.
10-30 Jackson Ave.
38 21-16 44th Dr.
21-16 44th Dr. Source: LICBDC 7
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Artists roll with change
Photo: Ryan Ryan Brooks Brooks Photos:
art scene
Creative types seek stake in future of LIC despite higher cost of living BY STEPHEN STIRLING
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Galleries like Dean Project, which is currently hosting the group exhibit “Exporting Pop,” have allowed the arts scene in Long Island City to blossom. geared specifically toward artists, something she has lobbied for in the City Council, but has yet to see any concrete plans emerge. Baker said the LIC Cultural Alliance will strive to bring national attention to the neighborhood in hopes of branding the area as an artistic center in the city. She recalled the Museum of Modern Art’s commitment to do just that when it temporarily moved to Long Island City while its Manhattan location was being renovated. “When they moved back to Manhattan, they were adamant that the cultural landscape would remain very, very vibrant,” she said. “It has, and our goal here is to keep it that way.”
Photo: Cat Cutillo
The Long Island City arts community, which sewed the fabric of the neighborhood now undergoing rampant development, is as strong as ever, the leader of the Long Island City Cultural Alliance said. But as the area evolves and rents rise, the arts community must continue to evolve along with it or developers and artists alike may soon see this fabric begin to fray. Strewn about Long Island City’s largely industrial streets are some of Queens’ largest and most-revered artistic institutions, including the PS 1 Contemporary Arts Center, the Socrates Sculpture Park and the Noguchi Museum. Long Island City Cultural Alliance President Alyson Baker, whose organization is made up of six of these cultural institutions, said the arts community has established a strong base in the neighborhood, one that is crucial for the continued success of this section of western Queens. “The arts provide the depth of the community,” Baker said after speaking on a panel for Hunters Point, one of the largest developments taking place in the area. “If you continue to have that depth and diversity, that makes it interesting.” The panel was part of the InfoFest forum on Long Island City’s future, sponsored by the Simone Development Companies. Baker’s strong feelings caused her to bristle during the panel discussion when Cityrealty.com Editor Carter Horsley compared the evolution of Long Island City to that of SoHo in Manhattan. “Historically, it was the artists living illegally in lofts and basements in SoHo that created the art scene there,” Horsley said. “Now they’ve been pushed out for Prada and other high-priced design firms and moved to Chelsea. And I think that’s what’s happening here, and that’s a really good sign.” Long Island City’s diverse community and close proximity to Manhattan have made it one of the hottest destinations in the city’s real estate market and there are currently at least 40 residential buildings in various stages of development that dot its streets. Baker acknowledged that the arts scene is being forced to change along with the real estate market, but was adamant in her assertion that Horsley’s outlook does not have to become reality. “I don’t want it to go the way of SoHo,” she said. Baker said while fewer artists are moving to Long Island City today than in the last decade, the arts scene has not started to regress. “I am talking to artists who are moving here right now, so it’s not out of the question yet,” she said. “But Long Island City tends to be more of a studio-based community than a live-in art enclave.” Baker said working alongside developers as they enter the neighborhood is one step toward preserving the predominantly sculpture and contemporary art-based art scene in Long Island City, and the LIC Cultural Alliance’s relationship with the Hunters Point Condos developers is proof of the hope in that prospect. Simone Development Companies has donated more than $30,000 to the LIC Cultural Alliance in the last year and promised another $50,000 in the coming year. Simone spokesman Patrick Smith said preserving the arts scene is a no-brainer. “You need to support it because the original art scene made it what it is today,” Smith said. “If you remove that DNA, you change the fabric of the neighborhood.” Still, Baker said that to continue to make Long Island City an attractive option, the city needs to make a commitment to low-income housing
Industrial warehouses converted to artists’ studios and exhibition spaces, such as Local Project, give Long Island City’s artistic landscape an identity all its own.
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moving in Photos: Cat Cutillo
Who are the new Joneses in LIC? The area is in transition and so are the neighbors BY NATHAN DUKE Long Island City is luring a new breed of residents who want a mixture of affordable luxury space in a neighborhood with industrial attitude that still has a small town feel. There are currently more than 5,000 market rate and affordable housing apartment units in various stages of development throughout Long Island City, and these new homes are creating an entirely new community. “Young professionals are coming into the area as well as empty nesters from Long Island and Westchester County who want a city vibe, but have gotten accustomed to trees and grass,” said Joyce Mincheff, an associate broker for Coldwell Banker. “For them this is perfect. If Williamsburg has a Haight-Ashbury vibe, then Long Island City has a more upscale vibe.” While basic services, such as grocery stores and restaurants, are slowly trickling into the community, new arrivals to the neighborhood are choosing to live there due to easy access to Manhattan via the No. 7, G, E, F, V, R, N and W subway lines and great views of the city’s skyline, Mincheff said. And new apartment renters and buyers get more bang for their buck, she said. “You get a better deal here than in Manhattan,” she said. “It’s a relaxed atmosphere that’s only a heartbeat from Midtown.” Joshua Davis said he moved to the neighborhood in September from Battery Park because his commute was actually shorter from Queens to Manhattan than his previous trek from his former home to his job at Rockefeller Center. “I’m pretty satisfied with the neighborhood — the best part is its convenience to Manhattan,” he said. Daria Oziashvili, a software specialist who lives at Queens West’s Avalon Riverview North, said she and her boyfriend moved to the neighborhood in February because they were paying $1,800 per month for a small apartment in Astoria. She said they now pay $2,600 for 12
Queens Tomorrow-reduced.indd 12
A Long Island City resident walks his dogs on the pier along the waterfront close to the neighborhood’s massive Queens West development. A majority of the new residents moving into the community are young professionals or families from Manhattan. their new apartment, but it is significantly bigger. “It was definitely worth it,” she said. “The apartments [in our building] are really nicely laid out and the proximity to Manhattan is convenient. The management of our building is very nice and we have a gym in the building. The prices are higher here, but you get more space.” Marya Gwadz, who moved into Queens West’s Citylights building in 1999 and transferred to The Galaxy on 50th Avenue last year, said she sought out Long Island City to escape the hustle and bustle of Manhattan. “The thing I like most about it is it feels like a small town and has a community feel-
Children take a seat on the Long Island City waterfront’s pier. Families with young children are among the many new residents in the neighborhood.
ing,” said Gwadz, who commutes to her job at 23rd Street in Manhattan. “It’s nice to be in an upcoming neighborhood. There’s nowhere else we’d rather be. We’re considering staying for the long term.” Gwadz said she and her family originally moved to the neighborhood from Brooklyn because they loved the western Queens waterfront. But Kenny Greenberg, an artist who has maintained a studio in Long Island City since 1981 and actually moved into the neighborhood with his wife in 1988, said the influx of new residents has caused long-term residents, especially artists, to move out. “I’ve watched small businesses and people we know leave the area,” he said. “The character of the neighborhood is changing dramatically and there’s less of a sense of community.” Many of the neighborhood’s artistic community are beginning to scout cheaper locales, such as Ridgewood and the South Bronx, he said. Greenberg said he originally moved to the neighborhood from Tribeca because it had a serene, rural quality to it. But he said the community has gone from an area where artists lived in studio loft spaces to a luxury condo haven. He said his home on 46th Road has literally been affected by the development after a neighboring tower has caused its foundation to crack. He said he does not harbor negative feelings toward the new people moving into the community from the other boroughs and Long Island, but hopes that Long Island City will be able to retain some of its small-town character. “There was originally a fear of yuppies taking over the neighborhood, but there are some really great people moving in,” he said. “It’s not their fault that they are drawn into these really beautiful buildings with great views of Manhattan.”
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Photos: Cat Cutillo
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edge city
Pioneer spirit thrives in LIC Photos: Cat Cutillo
Residents roughing it without grocery stores, neighborhood amenities BY NATHAN DUKE Long Island City is drawing urban adventurers who want to be on the front lines of the new frontier, but the newcomers say the neighborhood still has a long way to go in terms of amenities, such as grocery stores, Laundromats and parking. Residents praised the community for its spacious apartments at cheaper prices than Manhattan, easy subway access to the city and great views of the skyline. But they said they would like to see more retailers, restaurants and markets come into the area as it continues to expand. “The way I see it is that Vernon Boulevard has the potential to be like [Brooklyn’s] Carroll Gardens where you have a lot of butchers, small mom-and-pop markets and vegetable stores,” said Robert Wilonski, an architect who has lived in the Citylights building since 2001 and commutes to work in Midtown Manhattan. “But that is a more established neighborhood. Long Island City is not there yet.” Wilonski said neighborhood residents purchase essentials, such as milk or bread, at one or two delis on Vernon Boulevard or rely on Long Island City-based online grocery distributor Fresh Direct for delivery. But he said most members of the community must travel to Manhattan via subway or drive into Greenpoint, Brooklyn, or neighboring Astoria to go grocery shopping. He said the neighborhood also needed more play space for children, such as a gymnasium, as well as a movie theater. Daria Oziashvili, a software specialist who moved into the Avalon Riverview building a month ago and works near Grand Central Station, said she appreciates her one-stop commute via the No. 7 line from Long Island City to Manhattan, but would like more neighborhood amenities.
Long Island City’s Vernon Boulevard is slowly developing into a restaurant row, featuring French, Thai, Asian fusion and Latin-French eateries. “There are little delis where you can get small items, but there’s nowhere to get anything major like meat,” said Oziashvili, who relies on Fresh Direct for her groceries. “There are some restaurants and the neighborhood is growing fast, but there’s still not very much here. There are no stores whatsoever. It still feels like a warehouse and construction area.” Residents said one of the best areas in the burgeoning neighborhood is along Vernon Boulevard, where a small restaurant row has begun to develop. Among the most popular eateries on the street are Michelin Guide-rated French restaurant Tournesol and Tuk Tuk Thai Restaurant. Andrew Ebenstein, a spokesman for the Long Island City Business Improvement District, said a new Asian fusion restaurant and a Latin-French eatery are currently planned for Vernon Boulevard. Ebenstein said he expects more banks, coffee shops, drugstores and restaurants to slowly make their way into the community, while clothing retailers and other nonessential shops could take slightly longer to put down roots. “I think retail is always the last piece of the puzzle to fall into place,” he said. “Retailers don’t want to come in until there is a market.”
A number of Long Island City residents said they use grocery delivery service Fresh Direct due to the lack of neighborhood grocery stores in Long Island City. 14
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But Dan Miner, a spokesman for the Long Island City Business Development Corporation, said many young professionals looking to buy an apartment in the neighborhood might not want to move into the community until there were more amenities. “It’s sort of a case of the chicken and the egg,” he said. Joseph Conley, chairman of Community Board 2, said two of the most dire needs for Long Island City residents are additional parking spaces and new hospitals. “Parking is a very big issue,” he said. “People who move into the neighborhood will park in garages, but once they realize how costly it is, they’ll park on the street. It’s impossible to find spaces. The competition for on-street parking is very fierce and very competitive.” But many of the towers rising up on the western Queens waterfront feature monthly rates for parking. Wilonski said he pays an average $138 per month for his parking space at Citylights, a far cry from the $600-a-month rates for garage space in some parts of the Upper East Side. Conley said he thought more hospitals should also be planned for the community. Residents now must travel to Elmhurst Hospital, Astoria’s Mt. Sinai Hospital or even Manhattan to see a doctor. “If there’s not too much traffic, you might arrive alive in Manhattan,” he said. “This is a big issue — there’s not one new medical facility that’s planned for the population explosion in Long Island City.” Wilonski, who moved to Long Island City with his wife and 5-year-old son after they were priced out of their former neighborhood in Carroll Gardens, said he has come to appreciate his new community, especially for its access to the city and view of the East River, but he hopes it will eventually realize its full potential. “My wife works in Midtown and she’s there in 10 minutes — that’s one of the great things about the neighborhood,” he said. “But we still miss Brooklyn for the amenities we had.”
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visionaries Rendering courtesy of Tom Winter Associates
Green giants Looking ahead 50 years, architects see an eco-friendly LIC community BY ALEX CHRISTODOULIDES
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Tom Winter’s designs in the Futuristic Vision Long Island City 2058 see the Sunnyside rail yards covered by parkland and green space, with towers incorporating vegetation rising above the greenery. the new turf as not just green space but living space that can accommodate some of New York’s projected population growth since the mayor’s estimates have the city gaining a million more residents by 2030. “With large cities, the bigger they grow the more they act as a magnet,” Winter said. “We assume a lot of people will want to live here and there’s no horizontal space, so
Renderings courtesy of David Howell Design
The future of architecture in Long Island City will be greener and more holistic, weighing the idea of creating a community instead of simply putting up a building, if some of the designs in an exhibit called Futuristic Vision Long Island City 2058 become reality. The exhibit was conceived by Robson Lemos and Adriano Hultman, both vice presidents at Manhattan real estate firm Corcoran. David Howell, a New Zealand-born architect based in Manhattan, and Brooklyn-based Tom Winter both offered designs that incorporate green space and earth-friendly concepts into their designs. Howell’s designs aim to keep the neighborhood’s profile lowrise, much like it used to be before the Long Island City waterfront became built up in the last 10 years, while incorporating green roofs and self-sustaining power sources wherever possible. Winter’s approach examines building vertically in a way that does not create a wall of steel and masonry as an answer to the anticipated growth of New York City’s population. “We wanted to stop all this horrible cheap construction, stop talking about square footage and start talking about why people live someplace,” Howell said in an interview. Both architects see Long Island City as an opportunity to take the neighborhood from a bedroom community to a comfortable place to be. What the neighborhood lacks now is open parkland and green spaces for community use as well as gathering spaces, both said. “There’s no space for public facilities — child care, museums,” Winter said. “There’s not much green space except by the river, and that’s for the guys by the water.” Two designers at David Howell Design, Jason Roberts and Mark Mangopora, contributed to the sketches the firm submitted for the exhibit. One part of their concept is covering the Sunyside rail yards to create a park that would
rival Central Park in size and incorporate vegetation in ways that could lessen air pollution and alleviate runoff, they said. “What’s missing is people on the streets,” Mangopora said. “We wanted to increase circulation space and create residential space on top, commercial space on bottom.” The Howell design envisions working with the existing streetscape, trying to preserve what is already there, his team said. “David always takes the space and treats it as it is, so there’s a sense of authenticity and realness,” Roberts said. “Long Island City is an odd space in that it sort of put the cart before the horse, with these multimillion-dollar buildings,” Roberts said. Winter’s assessment of the neighborhood was similar. “The existing buildings are introverted with a doorman,” which creates a sort of wall between the residents and the idea of community, he said. “For Long Island City we didn’t want to come in with a plan to wipe out what’s there. The buildings that are there now aren’t going to disappear, and they shouldn’t disappear,” Winter said. His design also covers the Sunnyside rail yards, but he sees
David Howell’s vision of Long Island City in 2058 brings more trees to the neighborhood, both at street level and in the buildings.
we’ll build vertically.” What is striking about his design is it suspends living and community spaces in a sort of exoskeleton “so air can flow right through,” as he described it. “There is integration of green areas into the volume,” creating a sense of terraced or stacked parks that would be visible from outside the building, he said. “In the city so many buildings have green spaces indoors, but they only do it because they get a 20 percent floor area ratio bonus,” Winter said, referring to a city program where developers who include community space can build more units of residential or commercial space. “This is a conceptual study,” Winter said of their design. “We’re more interested in what the building can do, how we can weave the urban fabric.” Justin Blejer, a designer in Winter’s office who worked on the sketches, explained their approach. “It’s not about inventing tomorrow’s world, it’s about figuring out what can be done better,” Blejer said.
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Rendering courtesy of Tom Winter Associates
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Easy access to public transportation draws visitors to Queens guest rooms If you stand on the northeast platform of the 39th Avenue station stop of the N train in Long Island City, you’ll see a tall white building along the horizon. The building is 16 stories high and will have 138 hotel guest rooms when completed in August, according to the developer, Hafeez Choudary of South Huntington, L.I. This future Holiday Inn at 2902 39th Ave. in the Dutch Kills section of Long Island City is one of 15 hotels scheduled for construction in this area, according to a list provided by the office of City Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Woodside). “ReMax sold me the property in November 2005,” said Choudary during a phone interview. “It’s close to Manhattan and I thought it would be a good location for a hotel.” The area’s proximity to Manhattan via public transportation was cited as a major asset by developers, hotel managers, civic leaders, architects and residents involved in the area, which is served by several subway lines. “Market forces are pushing construction here partly because we’re only two train stops from Manhattan,’ said George Stamatiades, 66, executive director of the Dutch Kills Civic Association. Stamatiades has lived near the 39th Avenue station since 1973. Amanda Burden, chairwoman of the New York City Planning Commission, told The New York
Photos: Cat Cutillo
BY GENE ROMAN
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The future Holiday Inn, visible from the 39th Avenue platform on the N train, is emblematic of a slew of new hotels planned for Dutch Kills Times in April 2007 that easy accessibility to Manhattan is one of the neighborhood’s strengths. “The community is very obviously familiar with the fact that they have great transit access,” she said. Just a few blocks away the Indigo Hotel planned for 39-06 30th St. is scheduled to be a 14-story upscale, boutique hotel with 124
The Comfort Inn at Queens Plaza opened in 2003. 20
ness has fa tial a devel a bac wave
rooms, according to the hotel’s architect, Peter Casini. “It’s going to be somewhere between a Holiday Inn and a Hyatt in terms of amenities and service when it’s finished,” he said. Casini said he expects the hotel to be completed within the next 14 months. He is also the designer of Choudary’s Holiday Inn. “These hotels will serve as a vital link to Manhattan and let’s face it, Manhattan is the center of the universe,” he said. “People staying at these hotels will be able to bike or walk over the Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan. That’s going to be a delightful experience.” The six-story Clarion Hotel under development by Laxmi Management LLC at 40-03 29th St. is 98 percent completed, according to Helen Jin of Iron City Properties in Flushing, the hotel’s general contractor. “It shows that there is interest in the borough by developers and visitors,” said Seth Bornstein, the former director of economic development for Queens County from 1997-2006. “They are quality
hotels and that’s a good thing.” The Fairfield Inn by Marriott, Long Island City is located at 52-29 34th St. and being developed by The Lam Group of New York City. The Lam Group and Marriott did not return phone calls or e-mail requests for basic information on their building plans. Neither Costas Katsifas, the developer of an unnamed hotel at 38-30 28th St., nor his architect, Michael Kang of Flushing, responded to several calls about their project. Roger Fernandez, a pharmacist from Fresh Meadows, owns and operates the Augustin Pharmacy at 39-20 29th St. in the midst of the hotel construction bonanza. “I found out about the plans to build hotels in this area and then saw the construction beginning,” Fernandez told the TimesLedger. “That is one of the reasons I decided to establish a business here,” he added. He said he is looking forward to the business from the hotels’ customers. “We will probably add extra hours to service the potential customers at the hotels,” he said. “If
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they need something late at night, we hope to be able to serve them.” The Long Island City Business Development Corporation has facilitated a variety of residential and commercial real estate development over the years and is a backer of the hotel construction wave. “The LICBDC, as the local development corporation for Long Island City, supports continued growth in our many diverse sectors: residential, industrial, commercial, cultural arts and retail,” Dan Miner, senior vice president for business services, said in an e-mail. “More residential and commercial growth in key Long Island City neighborhoods will attract and enhance other uses. Fortunately, Long Island City is big enough to encompass many sectors.” The hotels have attracted investors from outside the city and state. Hall Structured Finance, based in Frisco, Texas, is helping to finance the construction of the Holiday Inn. The deal was brought to the attention of the company by a Manhattan-based real estate broker, said company President Mike Jaynes. “The factors that made the deal appealing for our company were the price of the land, the overall cost of development, easy transit access to Manhattan and the great view of the Manhattan skyline,” Jaynes said. The average daily room rates, or ADR, as it is known in the financial sector, also contributed to the company’s decision to help finance construction of the Holiday Inn, Jaynes added. “The ADR rates were extremely reasonable vs. comparable products in Manhattan, giving the property a competitive edge,” he said. “We also researched Intercontinental Hotel Groups (the parent company of Holiday Inn) properties in New York City, their ADR and occupancy rates in Manhattan and found that customers were being turned away from hotels for lack of available rooms.” Jaynes believes that Long Island City has the potential to attract a large number of people who cannot find space in Manhattan hotels because of its easy access to the city via subway and its much more competitive prices. “Manhattan is so overdeveloped,” Casini observed. “The only solution is to spread out.” The economic benefits to the area were also mentioned by Choudary. He believes that property values will rise throughout Long Island City because of the hotel construction.
The six-story Clarion Hotel on 29th Street is virtually complete. “The coffee opened.” shops and delis in Sam Chang the neighborhood is listed as the are all happy developer of the about the developproposed Days ment,” he said. Inn at 31-36 Vipul Patel’s Queens Blvd., Quality Inn at 30according to the 03 40th St. was list provided by the first of the 15 Gioia’s office. A hotels to open for 2007 profile in business in Authe New York gust 2007. It has Sun described 48 guest rooms him as “bringing and is six stories the suburbanArchitect high. style comforts “Quality of national hotel Inn is a very recchains to urban ognized brand in America and explorers across the five borEurope,” Patel said. “We have oughs.” already hosted tourists from Another profile that apItaly and Switzerland since we peared in Forbes Magazine in 2006
These hotels will serve as a vital link to Manhattan. Peter Casini
The Quality Inn on 40th Street was the first of the new crop of hotels to open its doors. Q UEENS TOMORROW 2008
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said Chang owned 20 hotels “in and around his adopted hometown offering alternatives to the regal room rates that are the New York norm.” The magazine estimated his net worth that year at $200 million. The Comfort Inn at 42-24 Crescent St. in Long Island City offers an example of what this new group of 15 hotels can expect in terms of business. It originally opened in August 2003, but has been under new management since August 2005. The eight-story hotel has 80 rooms. It is located two blocks from the Citicorp and Met Life buildings. Half of the hotel’s customers are business travelers affiliated with Citibank, Met Life, the United Nations Federal Credit Union and Intel, according to general manager Ankur Shah. “We have corporate accounts with all these companies,” he said. The remaining 50 percent are divided between visitors from Germany, Italy and Paris, and the domestic traveler. “A large part of the latter are from the East Coast,” Shah said. “Every single major train line to Manhattan passes nearby through either Queens Plaza or Queensboro Plaza,” he said, referring to the two major subway hubs in the neighborhood. In describing one of the benefits of a hotel in Long Island City, Shah said “people want to be in on the action of Manhattan, but they don’t want to be stuck in it.” 21
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new world
Luxury coming to Flushing BY STEPHEN STIRLING
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Skyview Parc will feature more than 1,000 luxury apartments that will sit atop a sprawling retail center. Despite this success, Skyview Parc remains the only development of the three gigantic projects to have actually broken ground. The city’s planned redevelopment of Willets Point, by far the largest of the three projects at 65 acres, was expected to begin the public approval process at the end of February, but was delayed after City Councilmen John Liu (D-Flushing), Hiram Monserrate (D-East Elmhurst) and Tony Avella (D-Bayside) pulled their support of the plan, citing questions surrounding the relocation of the current business owners and the use of union labor. Despite the opposition, the Willets Point project formally began the public approval process April 21 when the Economic Development Corporation released an exhaustive 1,050-page document detailing the framework for the project and its projected effect on the surrounding communities. The city proposed the formation of a special zoning district, which would provide an outline for the project the eventual developer would have to adhere to. The zoning district would specify aspects of the development such as building height, street placement and the location of different uses within buildings on the site. The EDC said plans for the 13-square-block site adjacent to Citi Field include 5,500 mixed-in-
Photo: Cat Cutillo
Entering the second quarter of 2008, Flushing is on the brink of a development boom. While some projects are still at the starting gate, others are forging ahead, pushing against rising building costs and uncertainty in the housing market. If each of the three major developments slated for Flushing — Skyview Parc, Flushing Commons and Willets Point — were to be completed, they would bring more than 7,500 housing units and millions of square feet of office and retail space to an area that has clamored for jobs and housing in the past two decades. Besen & Associates Real Estate Broker Adelaide Polsinelli, who is currently shopping a set of 10 Flushing apartment buildings which could go for as much as $50 million, said much like Manhattan, she believes Flushing will continue to thrive and demand development despite the U.S. economic slowdown. “I think Flushing is an insulated market,” Polsinelli said. “It really is like a self-sufficient little city. Everything you would need is right there.” The leader in the Flushing development race thus far has been Muss Development, whose Skyview Parc luxury housing and retail complex has been under construction for more than a year. When finished, the 15-acre project will feature 1,000 luxury condominiums above 800,000 square feet of retail space. Skyview Parc will also have a nearly fouracre elevated park, which will sit atop the retail space and around the six planned residential towers. Basketball courts, tennis courts, a putting green, a running track and a pool are all amenities expected to be included in the park, which will exclusively serve the residents of the complex. Jason Muss, a principal at the familyowned Muss Development, said SkyView Parc will fill a dire need in a premier location in Queens. “Queens has been underserved by luxury multi-family housing. Queens has been really behind because there hasn’t been as much land zoned for residential as you have in places like Brooklyn,” Muss said. “Flushing is really the spoke in the wheel. We really are right in the middle of Queens’ hub. Not only will Skyview Parc be a hub within Flushing, but Flushing is a hub within Queens.” Sales of the 1,100 condominiums planned for the development began in February and after four weeks, more than one-third of the units in the first tower of the project had been sold.
Muss Development says its Skyview Parc sales center provides an unparalleled apartmentshopping experience.
come housing units, 1.7 million square feet of retail space, 500,000 square feet of office space, a 400,000-square-foot convention center and a 700-room hotel, all of which will be designed with environmental sustainability in mind. Flushing Commons, an $800 million project that would bring 500 housing units and 350,000 square feet of retail space to what is now Municipal Lot 1, has also been slowed. Originally announced in 2005, the plan has been stalled since the developers, the Rockefeller Group and TDC Development, called for changes to the original proposal — including eliminating below-market parking rates and reducing the size of a planned community center. Jamie Van Bramer, a spokesman for TDC Development and the Rockefeller Group, said while rising construction costs may have complicated matters, they remain confident a compromise can be reached. “We have been working diligently with our partners in the New York City Economic Development Corporation to work out the details on a development plan that we are confident both respects our original Flushing Commons vision and is wholly achievable within this ever-changing economic environment.” Muss said the fact that his firm has owned the land that Skyview Parc is being built on, located at the corner of College Point Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue, is a chief reason his group has been so successful. “We tend to take a more long-term approach to these projects. We bought the land [for Skyview Parc] back in 1983,” he said. “So we don’t have the same land costs that other developers might have right now.” Muss said he would like to see the other developments in the area take place, but sometimes it is not in the cards. “We see those projects as critical mass that will really benefit everyone in the area, so I don’t really like to view them as competition,” he said.
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vibrant hub
Photo: Cat Cutillo
Jamaica set for dramatic makeover BY IVAN PEREIRA When the City Council approved the 368-block rezoning of Jamaica in September, city leaders and developers praised the project as opening the way for Jamaica Avenue, Archer Avenue and other commercial areas to become the borough’s new hot spots. The rezoning sets the stage for more upscale commercial buildings, several massive condos and new public mini-parks. Since the Council vote, however, there have been no major cosmetic upgrades to the area. “It’s going to take a little while before we see some change,” said City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans). “It takes time for business people to look for the right area and invest in it.” According to officials at the city’s Economic Development Corporation, the wait will soon be over as several projects get underway in the next couple of months that will offer residents and visitors a new world of opportunities. “We’re really excited because we are seeing so many of our projects hit many milestones that would make Jamaica such a dynamic commercial area,” said Jessica Baker, the EDC’s senior project manager.
Sutphin Underpass The first major project in the pipeline will transform part of the Long Island Rail Road station at Sutphin Boulevard. The new underpass will help commuters walk from the station’s western area to the street in a safe and comfortable manner. The underpass will let commuters gaze upon the bustling streets of southeast Queens through large glass windows and doors. The $12 million project that is set to begin construction in June or July will also feature a 55,000-square-foot commuter area, where straphangers and LIRR riders can take a breather from their busy day by visiting an assortment of retail shops, cafés and newsstands. The city hopes these shops will not only be a hotspot for southeast Queens shoppers to spend the day, but also attract customers from other parts of the city and Long Island. Greater Jamaica Development President Carlisle Towery praised the city for reaching out to borough residents and for focusing on enriching the neighborhood. “This project is an important step in downtown Jamaica’s transformation,” he said Image courtesy NYC EDC in a statement.
Atlantic Avenue Expansion Although city planners agreed that Jamaica’s commercial area already has an efficient mass transit hub, they said commuters who drive into the area face massive traffic congestion. The Atlantic Avenue expansion project, currently in the design phase, will alleviate that problem. The $25 million plan will extend the Atlantic Avenue overpass a few blocks east to the Van Wyck Expressway service road. The longer road will not only handle more vehicles to and from the area, but redirect most of the traffic to 95th Avenue. Thomas McKnight, the EDC’s senior vice president, said the project would be beneficial 24
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Shoppers who frequent the downtown Jamaica shopping district check out the latest trends at one of the area’s several boutique shops. to new businesses by introducing new visitors to the area. “It’s very much linked to the recent rezoning. The project connects to the area that was upzoned,” he said. Construction is currently set for sometime next year, according to the EDC.
Station Plaza The city’s biggest infrastructure plans will change the commuting hub on Archer Avenue that connects the city’s subway, bus and parking center. The project, still in the early design phase, will realign the avenue and shift it more toward the north, Baker said. In order to give pedestrians more room to transfer from one mass transit option to another, the sidewalks of the area will be widened and the subway entrances located at the intersections of Archer and Sutphin boulevards will be moved. “The idea is again to create a more pleasant gateway. That area has been designated as very dangerous,” she said, due to a number of accidents involving pedestrians and motorists. Although the project is still in the design stage, EDC officials said they were hoping to begin construction in 2010.
Family Court Complex Not all of the plans in the works are aimed at helping to build Jamaica’s commercial district. Construction is already underway to transform the former Queens Family Courthouse, located at 89-14 Parsons Blvd., into a mixed-use building. The new complex will house nearly 350 co-ops and rental apartments, 70 percent of which will be set aside for affordable housing, according to Alex Adams, the project’s manager. The project also sets aside the ground floor with 45,000 square feet of retail space. But not to worry, history buffs: The facade of the 78-yearold building that was originally the first location of the Queens Public Central Library will remain intact when the court complex opens sometime next year.
168th Street Garage
A preliminary sketch of the city’s Station Plaza project, which will update and improve the infrastructure of the Sutphin Boulevard mass transit hub.
In September, the EDC issued a request for proposal for the sale and redevelopment of an 84,000-square-foot, two-story parking garage on the northeast corner of 93rd Avenue and 168th Street. The goal of the project is to create a mixeduse building that will include a 300,000square-foot commercial space with a parking area and 300 to 350 units of housing, according to the EDC. Of those apartments, roughly 20 percent will be sold as affordable units.
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Photo: Cat Cutillo
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Covering all the bases Mets’ new Citi Field honors Jackie Robinson, respects environment BY JEREMY WALSH When Citi Field opens for the 2009 baseball season, the massive new ballpark’s features will look both to the future and to the past. The Mets recently unveiled the details of the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, the entryway to the new stadium that pays tribute both to the man who broke baseball’s color barrier and to Ebbets Field, the Brooklyn park where it happened. Looking to the future, Citi Field will also include a number of environmentally friendly features designed to save money and resources. The rotunda will be larger than the one at Ebbets: 160 feet in diameter and 70 feet tall. Its terrazzo floor will be inscribed with images and words of the nine virtues Robinson lived by: courage, excellence, persistence, justice, teamwork, commitment, citizenship, determination and integrity. Robinson’s daughter Sharon chose the values the rotunda would use. “Dad didn’t write them down, but he lived these values,” she said at a recent ceremony. The rotunda will also feature an 8-foot-tall sculpture of the number 42, which Robinson wore during his Major League Baseball career. It was officially retired from all MLB teams in 1997, except for the New York Yankees. Robinson’s widow, Rachel Robinson, said she and the Jackie Robinson Foundation spent a long time consulting with the Mets on the layout of the rotunda. She said she hoped the rotunda would inspire fans to reflect on the kind of difference they have made in the world. “I’m filled with mixed emotions,” she said, noting her husband, who died in 1972, was a humble man. Still, she said he would have been thrilled to see his example live on. “This rotunda is spectacular,” she said. As they celebrate Robinson, who opened the doors to people of all colors, the Mets will gain a third team color next season: green. At least, that is what City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) had to say about the new stadium’s environmentally friendly construction features. Quinn joined Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Queens Borough President Helen Marshall in March to hail the new $800 million ballpark. “Citi Field will be the most environmentally friendly park ever,” Bloomberg said. “Flushing Meadows Corona Park was where people came in 1939 and 1964 to see the future, and now they will again.” The green at Citi Field includes recycled 28
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The Mets’ new Citi Field will include a number of environmentally friendly innovations when it opens in spring 2009, including waterless urinals and a non-potable well for field irrigation. steel in its structure, waterless urinals in bathrooms and a green roof. Some 95 percent of the 12,500 tons of structural steel used in the stadium is recycled, a process that consumes less energy than refining steel from scratch. Though Citi Field itself will not have a roof, the Mets’ 15,000-square-foot administration building will feature a green roof with live vegetation, which will insulate the building from heat in the summer and cold in the winter. The stadium’s 414 hands-free faucets, 635 automated flushing toilets and 270 waterless urinals are expected to save more than 4 million gallons of water a year. The playing field itself will be irrigated by a dedicated well, allowing the organization to avoid using drinkable water for the grass. Other water conservation measures include the use of porous pavers instead of concrete or asphalt for 65,000 square feet of ground, allowing for better water drainage during rainstorms, and a 3,700-square-foot drainage bed which is expected to reduce storm water runoff
Rachel Robinson, widow of Jackie Robinson, toured the unfinished rotunda at Citi Field on the 61st anniversary of his color-barrier busting debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
by 80 percent. Citi Field will also go easier on electricity consumption, thanks to a building management system that will automatically control equipment stop and start times, as well as a lighting control system that will do the same thing for the stadium’s light fixtures, televisions and ad panels. “It’s a little expensive sometimes, but the Mets delivered,” said Marshall of green building practices. She hailed the borough’s other green building efforts, including the Queens Botanical Garden in Flushing. Although they may be pricier than their conventional counterparts, Mets Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon said the new green features will not affect ticket prices, noting features like the waterless urinals will save the organization money in the long run. Alan Steinberg, director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 2, praised the park for harkening back to his favorite baseball team — the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers — with a rotunda named for Jackie Robinson. “We talk a lot in our agency about historic preservation,” he said. “This is historic resurrection.” Steinberg also hailed the environmental features of the park. “Citi Field will stand as a model to other sports organizations,” he said. Officials also lauded the organization’s commitment to mass transit. Wilpon said the number of parking spaces at Citi Field will be the same as for Shea Stadium, but the Field will have 15,000 fewer seats. Additionally, he said, the number of fans riding the No. 7 train increased by 32 percent last year, while the number of fans taking the Long Island Rail Road has doubled since 2005. Bloomberg also praised the nearby Willets Point redevelopment project, saying the two developments would result in the city’s first “truly green community” in an area “held back by a century of blight and neglect.”
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good life Photos: Alex Christodoulides
Deluxe apts on the rise Forest Hills condos join new mall in Rego Park in latest area projects BY ALEX CHRISTODOULIDES
a model by May or June” to show prospective clients, who tend to be Since Forest Hills’ homemostly first-time buyers and emptygrown developer Cord Meyer fin- nesters, he said. “We’ve been selling ished The Windsor on Queens Bouoff floor plans, which is proving to be difficult because these are not levard at 71st Street in 2005, several projects have come before Commu- investors, these are primary residents.” nity Board 6 and now one is nearing The economic crunch is slowcompletion. ing sales somewhat, but 35 percent Novo64, a five-story luxury building on the north side of Forest of the units are already under conHills on Yellowstone Boulevard at tract, he said. “We’ve had a slight adjustment 64th Road, is expected to be done this summer. The developer, Manhat- in price due to the market — about 10 percent,” Dinour said. He soundtan-based Triumph Group, opened ed upbeat, however, citing a high a retail gallery on Austin Street in Forest Hills to promote the condos level of interest in the project and the brisk sales of studio units and in September, and at that time Triumph President Sha Dinour said one- and two-bedrooms. Another big development, the some 25 percent of the building’s 93 residential/commercial Rego Park units were under contract. Mall II project on which Manhat“Things are going great, the building is being topped off and the tan-based developer Vornado Realty building envelope completed as we Trust broke ground last spring, has temporarily put its residential towspeak,” Dinour said in a telephone ers on hold. interview last month. The windows and Sheetrock are to go in soon and The retail component, which electrical and plumbing inspections includes home-improvement chain will follow, he said. Home Depot and clothing retailThe group expects to have the ers Kohl’s and Century 21, is gobuilding ready for occupancy by the ing ahead, but the proposed two end of the year, which Dinour said residential towers that were to have should give a boost to sales. been constructed above it have been “We’re really hoping to have shelved for the time being, Vornado representatives said in a presentation to CB 6 last month. The plans called for three stories of retail at the site on Junction Boulevard at the Horace Harding Expressway eastbound service road, with a residential tower projected to be between 17 and 21 stories high above the mall. Vornado told the board that it would hold off on a decision about the residential component, The Novo64 building sits on a lot bounded saying the company needa few more months to by Yellowstone Boulevard and 64th Road. ed assess the market. 32
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The Windsor, which Cord Meyer constructed in 2005, is the most recent large development to be completed in Forest Hills.
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Saving Queens’ history
Phot
Borough activists fight to fill landmarking gap BY ALEX CHRISTODOULIDES Queens is the overlooked borough when it comes to landmarking, with 65 designated individual sites and seven neighborhoods to date. But that does not deter preservationists seeking to save a piece of the past as development spreads. And landmarking proponents say the borough’s history of being passed over should not continue to be the guide. The fight to save the historic St. Savior’s Church in Maspeth from a developer’s wrecking ball is one of the higher-profile stories of the borough’s effort to hold on to significant buildings from its past while the city rushes to build new structures to accommodate the need for housing and office space. And while the efforts do not always bring the payoff residents would like, as with the repeatedly fruitless efforts of Richmond Hill residents to landmark their neighborhood of Victorian and Queen Anne houses, every so often there is a success. The beaux-arts Jamaica Savings Bank building in downtown Jamaica which recently got the nod on the third try before the city Landmarks Preservation Commission. “I have to give the Landmarks Commission credit for not giving up on it,” said Jim Driscoll of the Queens Historical Society in Flushing. Individual buildings as well as whole neighborhoods can be landmarked, subject to approval from the LPC. Sometimes the structures that make the cut are not even buildings: The iconic Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Corona Park is among Queens’ landmarks as part of the 1964 World’s Fair that took place in the park, but the New York State Pavilion and the Tent of Tomorrow — other visible remnants of the fair — have not gotten the same recognition. The borough has seven historic districts and a paltry 65 landmarked buildings, compared with approximately 770 individual sites in Manhattan, 145 in Brooklyn, 71 in the Bronx and 108 on Staten Island, the Landmarks Preservation Commission said. Queens’ landmarks include many houses of worship, documented in color photos at the Queens Historical Society in Flushing. Among 36
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Two houses in Richmond Hill, which has not been designated a historic district by the city, show two approaches to preservation — staying faithful to the original design (above), and making modifications to the structure in a way that does not significantly alter it (below). them are the soon-to-be designated Congregation Tifereth Israel synagogue in Corona, a distinctive cobblestone building on Bell Boulevard in Bayside, downtown Jamaica’s First Baptist Church and Jamaica Presbyterian Church, Astoria Pool, the Soma piano factory building, the Rufus King Manor house and the Richmond Hill Republican Club. The Richmond Hill club has fallen into disrepair and its windows are boarded up. While landmarking may be a desirable step for some residents, not all can keep up with the re-
pairs and not everyone can handle the cost of doing so. “The problem is you can’t force people to take care” of buildings that are landmarked, Driscoll said. And even when an owner is interested in doing so, the repairs — for instance, replacing crumbling pieces of a 19th century house — can be expensive and difficult to do with proper materials. Since Home Depot does not sell antique doors and window frames, preservationists often make do with good quality modern
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Rufus King Manor, Jamaica materials that mimic or resemble what needs replacing. “People complain about putting in the money for good quality materials and I want to ask, why wouldn’t you?” said Simeon Bankoff, executive director of the Historic Districts Council. But there is also sometimes confusion about what changes are permitted to a structure once it is landmarked. Only the exterior of the building visible from the public way is protected by landmarking, said Frank Sanchis III, president of the Municipal Arts Society. “People interpret ordinary maintenance as changing” the building, said Kevin Wolfe of the Douglaston and Little Neck Historical Society. Changing the paint color on a house counts, repainting it the same color does not, he said. The borough also has seven landmarked neighborhoods: Douglaston and Douglaston Hill, Fort Totten, Hunters Point, Jackson Heights, Sunnyside Gardens and Stockholm Street in Ridgewood.
Wolfe said getting the two sections of Douglaston landmarked had taken him and other area residents years, and he does not consider his work finished. “The landmarking took 20 years,” he said. “From 1989 to ’99 was the first section. We’re still working on our original goal.” In response to the LPC’s slowness to act and landmark borough buildings, Queens preservationists such as Stanley Kogan set out to recognize structures of significance by a process called “Queensmarking,” which singles out local icons such as the Lemon Ice King of Corona as well as actual historic places. Sometimes Queensmarking leads to national recognition of a building even before the city takes notice. “The idea was we should be pointing out significant buildings in Queens,” Driscoll said. “Congregation Tifereth Israel, we Queensmarked it. Shortly afterward it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.” Driscoll said many of the landmarked neighborhoods were Queensmarked years beQ UEENS TOMORROW 2008
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“Richmond Hill was the first Queensmarked community. College Point was second,” Driscoll said. Neither neighborhood has received recognition from the city LPC, but Richmond Hill has several structures that are on the National Register, such as the red brick schoolhouse PS 66 on 102nd Street. Herb Reynolds, director of the Sunnyside Gardens Preservation Alliance, said his neighborhood, which was landmarked in 2007, had been on the National Register first. “We had a fairly easy time of it. Sunnyside Gardens is fairly well-known outside the borough, and when we approached the LPC they lit up,” Reynolds said. “And it still took us four or five years to accomplish.” Sanchis said part of Queens’ trouble getting sites designated as landmarks lies in the building materials used. Where Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn have mostly masonry and brick structures, Queens’ older building stock relies heavily on wood, which lends itself to renovation more easily. “It’s true that wooden buildings are easier to alter,” Sanchis said. “But I’ve seen an astonishing number of masonry buildings get aluminum siding.” The bottom line, Sanchis said, is that reversible changes — like aluminum siding — should not deter residents interested in landmarking their homes or neighborhoods from seeking approval from the LPC. And perhaps one day Queens will see more than a doubledigit total of landmarks to its credit. 37
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Can you get there from here?
Long Island City is served by many subways, but overcrowding on trains remains a problem.
Mass transit, highways struggle to keep up with burgeoning communities BY PHILIP NEWMAN Economic development is sweeping Long Island City, Jamaica, Flushing and the Rockaways, but these far-flung Queens neighborhoods are grappling with transportation problems that leaders say need fixing as an influx of new residents arrives. Long Island City, which decades ago was a manufacturing center, is now in the midst of a building rush that is bringing in apartments, new hotels and business space. Flushing is on the verge of an explosion in residential building in the downtown area, which has a hodgepodge of travel options ranging from the starting point on the No. 7 line to buses spanning out across the borough to the Long Island Rail Road. Parking spots are tough to find. Jamaica, a major transportation hub and shopping strip, is seen by urban specialists as a promising center of commerce as well as housing to accommodate growing residential demand. The Rockaway Peninsula, the long-ago summer resort, has endured hard times in recent decades due to crime and economic decline, but upscale housing is going up on the peninsula along with retail centers. As the population grows, Queens has the dubious distinction of holding the record for the longest average commute of 41.7 minutes among the 231 largest counties in the country, according to U.S. Census data.
trains reach Vernon-Jackson (the final Queens station heading to Manhattan) we have people struggling to find room on the train — even standing room,” Conley said. The N line, a popular subway line serving Long Island City, has what the Straphangers Campaign ratings called below-average scheduled service and below-average quality announcements and cleanliness, while the R line has a below average amount of scheduled services, is often late, has an above average breakdown rate and poor quality announcements. The G, E, W and V also serve Long Island City.
Jamaica Despite Jamaica’s progress in attracting new residents, including many Kennedy Airport employees, and the addition of the AirTrain to JFK, it appears to be a challenge for many just getting started on a commute. The Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA said the commute from southeast Queens to Manhattan can be an ordeal. Something has got to be done about relieving the horrendous traffic in downtown Ja-
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Flushing Flushing is struggling with its own transit problems. Eugene Kelty, chairman of Community Board 7, said the LIRR station in downtown Flushing and traffic congestion on the streets below pose major challenges as the area undergoes major development. The elevated LIRR station, which has no handicapped-accessible features and no elevators, has been in a dilapidated condition for years, Kelty said. “The LIRR president, Helena Williams, and her assistants have been to the Flushing station,” Kelty said. “They look at this inadequate situation and nod their heads in agreement. But so far that’s the end of it. The money to fix it seems to go elsewhere.” Kelty said the Flushing area needs more express buses to Manhattan and a true transportation hub, although the Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue axis already is teaming with city buses, taxis, car services and pedestrians rushing to both the No. 7 subway station and the LIRR stop.
Leaders in Jamaica say the area needs more bus service to connect with the E and F trains.
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The Rockaways
Long Island City Even though Long Island City is served directly by six subways, many straphangers seem to prefer the No. 7 line, which is only several short stops away from the East Side of Manhattan. Joseph Conley, chairman of Community Board 2, said the big problem in Long Island City is overcrowding on the No. 7 subway line. “By the time Manhattan-bound No. 7
maica “between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. (when) more than 600 buses from all directions and countless commuter vans enter a 10-block central area of Jamaica,” a PCAC report said. “This traffic slows express buses, hinders buses bringing commuters to subways at Jamaica Center and adds heavily to the commuting time of express bus passengers,” the PCAC said. In addition, the report said “the MTA must find a way to relieve crowding on the E subway line.” The transit agency’s agenda calls for using computers to add more trains per hour to the E and F lines. Adjoa Gzifa, chairwoman of Community Board 12 in Jamaica, said the area needs more buses to bring people to Jamaica Center to catch the E train and to get express buses to Manhattan. “But we also need to find a way so that heavy rain does not paralyze the entire transportation system in Jamaica,” Gzifa said. “The subways and the area where buses park are sometimes flooded and thousands of us cannot get to work.” Gzifa said housing is going up all over Jamaica, but builders are not required to provide parking spaces for apartment dwellers. “Only a fraction of those living in these buildings have a place to park,” she said.
For the Rockaways, both new housing and accompanying retail centers have been moving off the drawing boards and into the community in recent years, including Arverne By The Sea, Arverne East and Water’s Edge. And transportation? “The A train takes an hour or more to reach Manhattan,” Orr said. Daily commuters report the average travel time on the A-train express is one hour, 15 minutes - far too long for most, who are demanding an alternative to the peninsula’s only subway line. “We appreciate City Council Speaker Quinn’s consideration in her plan for ferry service,” Orr said. Quinn has announced ferry operators hope to start test runs this summer.
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by the sea
Boom revives Rockaways Three residential complexes draw homeowners to beachfront community BY HOWARD KOPLOWITZ Three large-scale development projects underway in the Rockaways are poised to restore the peninsula’s reputation as America’s Playground. Once a bungalow community from the 1830s through the early part of the 1900s, the Rockaways fell victim to urban renewal in the 1960s that led to four housing projects being built on the peninsula. Development had been virtually non-existent in the Rockaways for roughly 50 years, until Arverne by the Sea, the most ambitious of the three ongoing projects, broke ground in 2002. “It’s very special what we have here in the Rockaways,” said Laura Sporni, the sales manager for Arverne by the Sea, which consists of 2,300 two-family homes and condominiums on 127 acres between Beach 62nd and Beach 81st streets overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in Arverne . “The one thing that people are drawn to is this magic of the ocean.” The development encompasses plans for a school and a 64,000-square-foot Super Stop & Shop within the complex along with a 30,000square-foot YMCA. The project is split into what Arverne by the Sea dubbed “six distinct neighborhoods” with beach-themed names: The Breakers, The Dunes, The Sands, Palmers Landing, Ocean Breeze and Tides. Three of the neighborhoods – The Sands, consisting of 46 two-family homes, Palmers Landing with 121 two-families and Ocean Breeze with 255 condominium apartments – have sold out, Sporni said. The Breakers is 90 percent sold and Sporni said Arverne by the Sea is expected to sell out by the end of the month. “The sales are very brisk here because we have the right product,” she said. Those sales are coming from “a melting pot” of customers, Sporni said, from current Rockaway residents to those from other parts of Queens and Brooklyn along with a variety of age groups. The homes at Arverne by the Sea start at $559,000, she said, while houses directly on the ocean are listed at $995,000. Sporni said a 20-year tax abatement on the homes make them more affordable. The option for a purchaser to rent out one of the two-families is another selling point, she said. “That rent pays a good chunk of their mortgage,” Sporni said. In November 2006, Mayor Michael Bloomberg helped break ground on the YMCA, but the occasion was ceremonial. Work is expected to start on the center toward the end of the year. A second project unrelated to Arverne by the Sea is taking shape near the eastern edge of the sprawling development. Water’s Edge at Arverne Condominiums, being developed by The Briarwood Organization, runs from Beach 59th Street to Beach 62nd 44
Queens Tomorrow-reduced.indd 44
Photos: Cat Cutillo
Water’s Edge at Arverne Condominiums boasts 40 two-family homes and 130 condo units. Street between Rockaway Beach Boulevard and the Atlantic Ocean in Arverne. It is being completed in two phases. Vincent Riso of The Briarwood Organization said the proximity to the ocean bolsters demand for housing in the Rockaways. The peninsula “is up-and-coming. It’s changing – much for the better,” Riso said. “This is the Hamptons west,” he said. “You have a boardwalk. You have a beautiful beach with lifeguards. It’s an ideal community for a couple or a young family.” Phase I, which sold out in December 2001, consists of 40 two-family homes. Phase II, which began construction about 18 months ago, will feature 130 condo apartments. The second phase is expected to be completed in the summer of 2009. The development qualifies as affordable housing and has “a number of subsidies,” Riso said, with two-bedroom apartments ranging from $182,400 to $229,000. Three bedrooms run from $314,000 to $361,000. Income requirements to purchase a twobedroom apartment range from $48,967 a year
The allure of the beach is creating increased demand for housing in the Rockaways.
up to $78,000. The minimum income for a threebedroom unit is $84,530 and a maximum of $143,850. Riso said Water’s Edge does not view itself as being in competition with Arverne by the Sea because his development has stricter and lower-income requirements. Arverne East, a third development with 1,600 housing units adjacent to Arverne by the Sea, is expected to break ground in the next few months. A representative from The Bluestone Group, the main developer of Arverne East, could not be reached for comment. On a lesser scale, 43 units of oceanfront condos called The BeachHouse recently went up for sale near Shore Front Parkway between Beach 90th and Beach 91st streets. Doug Chitel, the project manager for The BeachHouse, said the development expects to attract Long Island residents from Long Beach and the Five Towns who are looking for lower real estate taxes. Other groups he envisions moving into The BeachHouse are Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan residents who crave more affordable housing with a view of the ocean. About 20 percent of buyers will be those who want a second home, he said. While the high demand for units at Arverne by the Sea and Water’s Edge would suggest the Rockaways is experiencing a housing boom, homeowners on the peninsula are also facing hardship. Two Far Rockaway census tracts rank among the top 20 in the city in terms of the number of predatory loans and foreclosures. Nevertheless, the foreclosures are generating real estate investment opportunities for homebuyers and the new residential projects are providing hope to the peninsula that it has not seen in half a century.
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Fly with me Photos courtesy of American Airlines
Frills taking flight Terminal upgrades at JFK promise no-hassle travel
The American Airlines Terminal at JFK International Airport helps passengers from around the world to get to their flights with more efficient security machines.
BY IVAN PEREIRA Kennedy Airport is known to many international flyers as the gateway to the world and two projects, one completed and one nearly done, will make sure passengers leave and enter the city efficiently and in style. The new American Airlines terminal, which opened in August, and the new JetBlue Terminal 5 project, slated to open later this year, are being touted by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as the airport’s biggest additions in nearly 20 years. “It really is a complete renaissance of the airport,” said Port Authority spokesman Pasquale DiFulco. “What’s interesting about American and the Jet Blue projects is that they were built with the post-9/11 world in mind. From automated check-in systems and faster baggage claim machines to new shops, cafés and lounges, the new terminals are designed to fit every need of the passenger while at the same time ensuring a safe flight.
American Airlines Terminals 8 & 9 The American Airlines Terminals 8 and 9 have been getting positive reviews for the combined 1.6 million-square-foot facility connected by an underpass, according to Ned Raynolds, an AA spokesman. When passengers enter the giant space, which has 36 gates, they can check in faster at the 84 ticket counters and 44 selfservice machines. The average check-in time for domestic flights now is one minute at the terminal and only 90 seconds for international flights, Raynolds said. After passing security, Raynolds said passengers speed through their preflight procedures, thanks to the $1.3 billion terminal’s state-of-the-art luggage check-in system. The terminal has 10 security lanes that are capable of safely processing 1,800 passengers an hour, which is enough to fill seven Boeing 777 airplanes, according to Raynolds. After finishing their protocols, passengers can relax and even sightsee at the dozens of amenities offered at the terminal. Passengers are welcomed by the 400-foot-long mural by artist Matteo Pericoli that hangs at the entrance. After finishing their protocols, passen48
Queens Tomorrow-reduced.indd 48
gers can relax and even sightsee at the dozens of amenities offered at the terminal. Passengers are welcomed by the 400-foot-long mural by artist Matteo Pericoli that hangs at the entrance. The mural depicts major landmarks of the world, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Brooklyn Bridge and Petronas Towers in Malaysia. “It’s our way of saying you can fly anywhere from here,” Raynolds said. The American Airlines facility has 42 shops and stores covering nearly 53,000 square feet. The private Admirals Club, which caters to first-class and business travelers, provides fine dining, wireless Internet access and even three private shower facilities. Raynolds said American wanted to focus on ways to make the airport experience better for its business class and first-class passengers so special premium services and facilities were created to fit their needs. The largest of those facilities is the Admirals Club, located in the terminal’s Concourse C. The 11,300-square-foot club provides fine dining, wireless Internet access, and even three private shower facilities.
JetBlue Terminal 5 Over the years, the discount airline JetBlue has grown in popularity among flyers across the country, due to its numerous destinations, service and convenience, according to spokesman Sebastian White. Now the Forest Hills-based airline is looking to bring its approach to flying to its new terminal at JFK that
Port Authority officials say the new American Airlines Terminal and the upcoming JetBlue terminal are giving JFK a new look.
is scheduled to open later this year. The JetBlue venture is on the site once occupied by the futurist TWA Terminal, which was designed by Eero Saarinen in 1962. “The construction is going smoothly and we’re really excited about it,” White said. The $875 million project will also include a overhaul of the airline’s security procedures and facilities. JetBlue’s former terminal had six lanes for security checkpoints, but the new 635,000-square-foot space will include 20. The extra lanes will shave long wait times significantly for flyers passing through security, according to White. Other plans for a faster check-in include state-of-the-art, self-check-in ticket windows, more kiosks and a new baggage-sorting system. White was not able to disclose specifics on the new services but promised that they would be “a radical departure from customers’ current experience, boasting amenities never seen before in airports.” The terminal will move passengers on their way faster to the 26 gates for flights to destinations such as Orlando, Los Angeles and San Juan, P.R. With the expanded space for planes, White said the terminal would be capable to handle up to 250 flights daily. Amenities such as shops and clubs, White said, were still in the planning stages, but passengers should expect to see popular chains and have a plethora of shopping options. White said JetBlue plans to maintain and renovate the famous TWA tower located on the terminal’s space. The former terminal’s other historic piece of architecture, the Saarinen building will also remain but with new state of the state of the art renovations such as new lighting. “Our architects have worked hard to integrate the new structure with this historic building,” he said. JetBlue also plans to give an economic boost to the surrounding communities by offering hundreds of jobs from ticket counter agents to airline maintenance personnel. Since its founding in 1999, the airline has made its headquarters in Queens and JetBlue officials said they welcomed more residents to be part of their team as it expands.
Q UEENS TOMORROW 2008
4/23/08 5:50:34 PM
Photos courtesy of American Airlines
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Queens Tomorrow-reducedADS.indd 49
49
4/23/08 4:25:30 PM
add it up
Queens by the numbers
135:
Q58:
Number of new housing units envisioned in three Flushing
projects
65: Photo: Cat Cutillo
Approximate subway time from LIC:
The acres in the planned development of Willets Point
12,500:
Tons of structural steel used in the Citi Field stadium
635:
The number of automated flush toilets planned for Citi Field
368:
The number of blocks rezoned in downtown Jamaica
Columbus Circle Rockefeller Center
$1.3 billion:
Union Square
Cost of American’s new JFK terminal
Metropolitan Museum of Art Lower East Side
65:
The number of landmarked properties in Queens
38:
New residential buildings planned in Long Island City
Greenwich Village American Museum of Natural History
6 million:
Grand Central Terminal
2,270,338:
population of Queens as of 2007
1,550,849:
population of Queens in 1950
$883:
Most heavily used bus in borough with 27,000 riders daily
7,500:
From 15 hotels on the way to JFK’s new $1.3B terminal, Queens is the hot borough
20 min: 21 min: 30 min: 34 min: 43 min: 33 min: 39 min: 17 min:
The number of homeless people in Queens as of 2008
The total square feet of development underway for residential, commercial, hotel and retail projects in Long Island City
Photo: Cat Cutillo
$2 billion: $138:
Average weekly wage in Queens
Monthly parking rate for a space at Citylights
41.7 minutes:
$559,000:
513,949:
15:
Average commute for Queens residents, the longest in the nation
Estimated price tag for Queens West
Starting price for a twofamily house at Arverne
by the Sea
The number of new hotels that would be built in Long Island City based on current plans
The number of Queens residents taking mass
transit to work
Photo: Cat Cutillo 50
Queens Tomorrow-reduced.indd 50
Q UEENS TOMORROW 2008
4/23/08 5:51:44 PM
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FOR A PHYSICIAN REFERRAL CALL 1.800.YOUR.MDS OR VISIT WWW.MSHQ.ORG
Queens Tomorrow-reducedADS.indd 52
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