By James and Karla Murray, Tue, November 6, 2018 Earlier this year, 6sqft got an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour at the majestic Loew’s Jersey City Theatre, as well as the United Palace Theatre in Washington Heights. In 2016, we joined Untapped Cities and NYCEDC on a tour of Brooklyn Kings Theatre, and just last month, as part of Untapped Cities Insider’s Tours, we were lucky enough to tour and photograph the former Loew’s Valencia Theatre on Jamaica Avenue in Queens, which is now home to the Tabernacle of Prayer for All People church.
The majestic Loew’s Valencia Theatre opened on Saturday, January 12, 1929, as the first, largest, and most famous of the five flagship Loew’s “Wonder” Theatres established in the New York City area from 1929-30. All of the grand movie palaces were built by Marcus Loew of the Loew’s Theatres chain to establish the firm as a leader in film exhibition and to simultaneously serve as a fantastical yet affordable escape for people of all classes from the tedium and anxieties of their daily lives. The Valencia most definitely did not shy away from this fantastical approach, with its Spanish/Mexican Baroque architecture, gilded ornamentation, rich jewel-tone colors, and elaborate carvings.
Take the grand tour
By Dana Schulz, Mon, June 25, 2018 Photo via Wiki Commons
If you travel often for work, this affordable housing opportunity could make your life a lot easier, provided you earn between $48,618 and $83,440 annually. The city opened the lottery for a $1,418/month one-bedroom and a $1,599/month two-bedroom at 89-15 138th Street, which is just two blocks away from the J, M, Z trains and a slew of buses at Jamaica Station and the AirTrain to JFK. An added bonus? The two units up for grabs have balconies.
Find out if you qualify
By Devin Gannon, Mon, June 11, 2018 Photo via A&R Properties Group and TCX Development
A newly constructed building in the upper-middle-class enclave of Jamaica Estates in Queens (aka President Donald Trump’s hometown) is accepting applications for 21 mixed-income apartments. Dubbed the Maya, the eight-story luxury rental at 177-30 Wexford Terrace contains 68 units. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 85, 90, 100, 105, 110 and 115 percent of the area median income can apply for the units ranging from a $1,480/month studio to a $2,622/month two-bedroom.
Find out if you qualify
By Devin Gannon, Mon, September 18, 2017 Photo courtesy of Laffey Fine Homes from a previous listing
With President Donald Trump back in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly this week, a group of refugees is staying at the president’s childhood home, renting the Queens property through Airbnb. The Jamacia Estates home at 85-15 Wareham Place is being rented by Oxfam, an anti-poverty organization, to bring attention to the refugee crisis (h/t NY Post). The group invited four refugees to talk with journalists at the rental, highlighting their concern with Trump’s travel ban on people from six Muslim-majority countries and all refugees that was introduced in January. After facing multiple legal challenges, the Supreme Court allowed the refugee policy to remain temporarily, but justices will hear arguments about the travel ban on Oct. 10.
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By Devin Gannon, Wed, August 16, 2017 92-61 165th Street, Rendering via NHS Development Corporation
With new residential and commercial developments and transit options, Jamaica, Queens is on the brink of renewal, after many years of neglect. Adding to the area’s revitalization, the construction of a new 14-story affordable housing building was finished last fall. Now, applications are being accepted at the building for 88 affordable apartments at 92-61 165th Street in Jamaica Center, Queens. New Yorkers earning 40 and 60 percent of the area median income can apply for units ranging from a $494 per month studio to a $1182 per month three-bedroom.
Find out if you qualify
By Devin Gannon, Wed, August 9, 2017 Photo courtesy of Laffey Fine Homes from a previous listing
President Trump, who is currently in New Jersey on a 17-day vacation, announced that he will travel to Trump Tower this Sunday. While his Midtown penthouse will be getting a lot of attention this weekend, his childhood home in Queens is also making headlines. The home at 85-15 Wareham Place is up for rent on Airbnb, according to a recent listing on the company’s website (h/t NY Post). The modest Tudor style home in Jamaica Estates is listed for as much as $725 per month. The home features five bedrooms, sleeps 20 people, and includes a life-size cut out of POTUS in the living room. Even though the president only lived there until he was four years old, according to the listing, “this is a unique and special opportunity to stay in the home of a sitting president.”
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By Dana Schulz, Fri, June 16, 2017 Since initially hitting the market last summer, Donald Trump‘s childhood home in Jamaica Estates, Queens has seen quite the runaround. After a price chop from $1.65 to $1.2 million, the listing was pulled in November to head to the auction block, but shortly thereafter Manhattan real estate mogul Michael Davis bought the Tudor-style home sight-unseen for just under $1.4 million. He then flipped it for $2.14 million, nearly twice what he paid and double the neighborhood average. Mansion Global now has the scoop that the mystery buyer, whose identity was shielded behind the LLC “Trump Birth House,” will rent it out for between $3,500 and $4,000 a month, on par with similarly sized homes in the neighborhood.
***Update 7/16/2017: Just one day after it was announced that Donald Trump’s childhood home would be placed on the rental market, DNA Info reports that the Queens property has already found a tenant. Real estate agent Jason Friedman of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage told the website that “a long-term lease, for at least a year” was signed “almost immediately” after the home was listed, although for how much is not clear. Friedman shared only that the rent was more than the $3,500 reported yesterday. No word yet on who has scooped up the property.
Get a look inside
By Devin Gannon, Tue, March 28, 2017 When Manhattan real estate mogul Michael Davis bought Donald Trump’s childhood home sight-unseen for just under $1.4 million in December, he had high hopes of flipping the Tudor-style residence in Jamaica Estates, Queens. Now, just three months later, the Times tells us that he’s done just that, re-selling it at auction last week for $2.14 million, more than double the neighborhood average. Interestingly, the transaction was facilitated by lawyer Michael Tang who specializes in real estate investments made by overseas Chinese buyers. Tang told the Times in an email that he was unable to disclose the name or any other information about the buyer, whose identity is being shielded behind the newly created LLC “Trump Birth House.”
Find out more here
By Annie Doge, Wed, December 21, 2016 Hoping to cash in on Trump-mania, an anonymous New York investor scooped up the President Elect’s childhood home in Jamaica Estates, Queens in the hopes of bringing it to auction next month and turning a profit. Mansion Global got the news from auctioneers Paramount Realty USA, who say the bidding will take place on January 17th. Previous reports have estimated that the six-bedroom, Tudor-style home that Trump’s father Fred built could fetch up to ten times its most recent $1.2 million ask, or a whopping $10 million.
Get the full scoop
By Annie Doge, Fri, July 15, 2016 A common question about Donald Trump is “Where did he come from?” and this new listing for his childhood home in Queens may be one piece of the puzzle. Newsday reports that the Jamaica Estates home in which the presidential hopeful lived as a young boy has hit the market for $1.65 million. The six-bedroom tudor home at 85-15 Wareham Place is listed as his address on his 1946 birth certificate (he was born at nearby Jamaica Hospital) and is located in an affluent enclave where the average sales price is around $2 million according to DNAinfo.
More on Trump’s beginnings
