Via NYC Parks
A Long Island City parks group wants to change the name of Hunter’s Point South Park, a waterfront green space in the Queens neighborhood, the LIC Post reported on Thursday. The Hunters Point Parks Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that manages the 11-acre park, says despite being a “gem of Queens,” the park does not have “the city-wide recognition it deserves.”
Image: TF Cornerstone
Developer TF Cornerstone has released new details about public open space slated to be part of the proposed project spanning over 1.5 million square feet at 44th Drive on city-owned land along the Long Island City waterfront, LICpost reports. Known as the Long Island City Innovation Center, the proposed massive city-led development, which will need zoning changes in order to move forward, includes office, retail, and manufacturing space and two high-rise residential towers with over 1,000 units, 25 percent of which would be affordable. The latest news concerns the acre of publicly accessible open space that is also part of the controversial development. According to TF Cornerstone, this open space will become a waterfront park with a focus on resiliency and sustainability.
Photo via Flickr cc
Away from the hustle and bustle of Court Square, the area of Long Island City around the Vernon Boulevard-Jackson Avenue subway stop is the perfect combination of the neighborhood’s industrial past and current, amenity-filled reincarnation. Near hip spots like the Alewife Taproom, Tuk Tuk Thai restaurant, and Fifth Hammer Brewing Company, a middle-income housing lottery has just opened for three units at 10-44 Jackson Avenue. Reserved for households earning 130 percent of the area median income, there is one $2,201/month studio and two $2,320/month one-bedrooms. In addition to being close to plenty of food and drink options, this new 10-unit rental is less than a block away from the 7 train and a short walk to the newly opened Hunters Point South Park.
6sqft’s series “My sqft” checks out the homes of New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to the Long Island City condo of Stephen. Want to see your home featured here? Get in touch!
No, that’s not a typo. Stephen Fox’s home really measures 5,400 square feet. And slightly more than half of that space comes in the form of two terraces–a lower one equipped with a grill and dining area and a huge rooftop area with more room to play and entertain than some city parks. Both spaces boast views of the Manhattan skyline, as well as a front-row seat to the ever-evolving Queens neighborhood of Long Island City.
After first purchasing a unit in the building, a former 19th-century factory, in 2006, Stephen and his wife Julie later snagged a larger apartment. The couple, who both work in finance, then bought the unit next door, combining them to make for an even more palatial home. They now share the light-filled space with their two children, three-year-old Mason and two-year-old Logan. Stephen recently gave 6sqft a tour of his home, shared what it was like to settle down in LIC, and told us how he’s seen the neighborhood change over the last decade.
Rendering via Vass Stevens
A new food hall is coming to the Astoria–Long Island City border in Queens, the Commercial Observer reported on Tuesday. Developer Vass Stevens Group is in the process of converting a former print shop, dollar store and restaurant supply store at 34-39 31st Street into a retail space with eight 2,000-square-foot storefronts. The interiors of the single-story building have been demolished and renovations, which will add new glass storefronts and doors, are set to begin soon.
42-50 24th Street rendering via Dynamic Star
Long Island City has been fertile ground for new skyscrapers for over a decade–and the biggest additions are still yet to come. Despite concerns over an apartment glut, developers are racing to send 60- and 70- story towers skyward, including the Durst Organization’s Queens Plaza Park, United Construction’s Court Square City View Tower, and Stawksi Partners’ 43-30 24th Street. A newcomer to this party is a mixed-use tower from Dynamic-Hakim and Property Markets Group (PMG) set to rise at 42-50 24th Street, CityRealty reports.
Via Hill West Architects
The soaring condo tower planned for Long Island City’s Court Square shrunk in height this week, dropping from a proposed 984-foot tower to 778 feet, Curbed NY reported. This isn’t the first height fluctuation for the building, dubbed the Court Square City View. Developer Chris Xu proposed a 964-foot tower in 2016, bumped it to supertall status at 984 feet in 2017 and now, according to the WSJ, the tower will rise just under 780 feet. Despite reducing in height by more than 200 feet, the tower will still be the tallest building in Queens upon completion.
Photo by Pablo Enriquez
In MoMA PS1’s temporary exhibit at its sprawling outdoor courtyard in Long Island City, people become the art. Hide & Seek, created by Jennifer Newsom and Tom Carruthers of Dream The Combine, features moveable mirrors that offer surprising and dislocating perspectives of the courtyard and the crowd looking into them. Newsome and Carruthers were named the winners of the 2018 Young Architects Program, which challenges emerging architects to design a creative, sustainable outdoor installation. Hide & Seek will be on view at MoMA PS1 between June 28 and September 3.
Photo © 6sqft
The Hunter’s Point South Park extension officially opened Wednesday, over three years after construction began at the Long Island City site. The second phase adds 5.5 acres south to the existing park, which currently has a basketball court, playground, two dog-runs, and a volleyball sand pit. The city’s Economic Development Corporation and Department of Parks and Recreation developed the project, which measures 11-acres from 50th Avenue to Newton Creek on the East River.
At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, local officials and community members gathered to celebrate the project’s opening. “This is a beautiful park,” State Sen. Michael Gianaris said. “Enough to make our friends across in Manhattan look over and be jealous that they don’t have anything as beautiful on their side of the River.”
Rendering via CRÈME / Jun Aizaki Architecture and Design
A Kickstarter campaign launched on Thursday for a civic design project aimed at reconnecting the neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Long Island City and the residents who live there. Brooklyn-based studio CRÈME/ Jun Aizaki Architecture & Design’s concept, called Timber Bridge at LongPoint Corridor, calls for constructing a floating bridge made of durable timber that would sit on Newtown Creek and expand past to the LIRR rail yard in LIC. Not only would it provide people greater access to transit options, according to the design team, Timber Bridge would give bikers and pedestrians a safer commute than the Pulaski Bridge, a less-than-ideal path with lots of cars.
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