Queens

Watch out Hudson Yards, Midtown is moving east to Queens. Long Island City is sprouting a small city worth of skyscrapers, ushering in thousands of new residents, hundreds of hotel rooms, and a few hundred thousand square feet of office space. To help us visualize the neighborhood's upcoming transformation, the dynamos at Rockrose Development commissioned visualization experts Zum-3d to produce this exceptionally accurate depiction of the changes afoot. Inspired by the rendering, 6sqft has put together a rundown of the nearly 30 under-construction and proposed projects for the 'hood.
See the full roster ahead

March 11, 2016

This $1.2M Row House Is in a Charming Historic Oasis Amid the Rooftop Pools of LIC

We may most often think of the Hunters Point section of Long Island City as the home of a decade-plus building boom that has resulted in a neighborhood of glassy luxury condo and rental towers with amenities galore. But the sleek, vertical community also has an historic district and streets lined with 19th-century row houses. Built in 1887 as one of six brick houses, the two-story-plus-basement row house at 21-24 45th Avenue is among the neighborhood's historic finds, and it's currently for sale asking $1.2 million. The listing notes that the building is being delivered as-is with SRO tenants. It's currently set up as a five-unit rental property with a vacant sixth (studio) unit.
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The Lost Subway Line of the 1939-1940 World’s Fair

World’s Fair Terminal Station. Photo via Bill Cotter

March 8, 2016

The Lost Subway Line of the 1939-1940 World’s Fair

There was, for a short time, a line of the IND (Independent) subway that was built for the 1939/1940 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, the second most expansive American world's fair of all time (second only to the St. Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904). The event brought over 44 million people to the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park site. To make visting the fair more convenient, the city created a new dedicated subway line extension and terminal, then the only line owned by the city. The extension began on a bridge (called a flying junction) running through Jamaica Yard near what is now the Forest Hills-71st Street stop on today's M/R lines. The extension turned north along the east side of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park over a wooden trestle and ended at the newly-created World’s Fair Terminal Station, which had two tracks and three platforms. The two-mile addition cost $1.7 million to build.
Find out what happened

March 4, 2016

Pre-War Apartment in One of Jackson Heights’ Prominent Courtyard Co-ops Asks $1.1M

By Emily Nonko

Jackson Heights used to be one of the few New York neighborhoods left to buy a great co-op apartment for a good deal. The prewar cooperatives there are known for their private, interior courtyards, and this building -- The Towers, at 33-27 80th Street -- has one of the best, spanning almost an entire city block. But it looks like this neighborhood is a bargain no longer. A for sale by owner listing has hit the market for a seven-bedroom, four-bedroom apartment at The Towers asking $1.1 million. (It last sold in 2011 for $675,000.) It's a huge apartment, with 1,500 square feet, and loads of beautiful prewar details. And windows from the bedrooms and kitchen offer a view down to the courtyard below.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

February 23, 2016

First Look at MY Architect’s 19-Story Hotel Set for Jamaica’s Transit Hub

With all corners of the city bursting at their seams, once overlooked business nodes are experiencing a resurgence of construction activity. Perhaps most foreign and far-flung to Manhattanites is Jamaica, Queens, where a cluster of high-rises is rising around its transit hub, which serves LIRR commuters and is a terminus to JFK's AirTrain network. The neighborhood's latest large project to come forward is from Flushing-based Ampiera Group, who have proposed a 100,000-square-foot hotel and office tower at 90-75 Sutphin Boulevard, just one block from the transit center. The building's exterior, comprised of a mix of glass and stone, is designed by MY Architect, who are working with the development team on at least two Long Island City projects. Approved permits and documents filed last summer co-align with images published on the architect's website that call for a double-winged building with a low-rise leg fronting Sutphin Boulevard. The low-slung retail buildings along Archer Avenue will be demolished to create a plaza at the foot of the tower.
More views and details ahead

February 22, 2016

Pricing and Renderings Released for the Jackson, Industrial-Inspired Condo in Long Island City

Situated squarely between Long Island City's waterfront towers and its burgeoning Court Square and Queens Plaza business districts, an upcoming industrially-inspired condominium named the Jackson is beginning construction work. On Friday, the New York Times unveiled pricing information for the 70,000-square-foot project, and a polished set of renderings has been published on the developer's website. The 11-story, 54-unit project is being shepherded by a joint-venture among Charney Construction & Development, Ascent Development, and Tavros Capital. The development site, located around the corner from MoMA PS1, was formerly occupied by a parking lot and a nondescript two-story building. Fogarty Finger, the building's architects, have designed several other low- to mid-scale residential projects in LIC that complement the fleetingly-gritty neighborhood's aesthetic. Here they accomplish that by using raw material such as steel, concrete, and wood, as well as oversized windows that feel like an old industrial loft building.
This way for details, renderings, and pricing

February 22, 2016

‘Fatal Flaw Analysis’ Says Brooklyn-Queens Streetcar Could Require Two New Bridges

The proposed Brooklyn-Queens Connector (BQX) streetcar may require the construction of two new bridges, one over Newtown Creek and another over the Gowanus Canal. The New York Times reported that the potential need for the new bridges–the Pulaski Bridge and the bridge across the Gowanus Canal at Hamilton Avenue might not be able to accommodate streetcars–was one of the more substantial details released by Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen and other top officials Friday. In a "fatal-flaw analysis," it was found that that though there would be "major challenges" to creating the system, it was feasible, Ms. Glen said. Like all things New York City, the proposed BQX proposal "would dwarf other recent streetcar systems in the United States." The cost involved in constructing the new bridges is already included in the project's $2.5 billion cost estimate. They would include bicycle and pedestrian paths.
Find out more

The Brooklyn-Queens Streetcar Would Run Entirely Through Flood Zones

Map of streetcar route via NYC mayor’s office (L); Map of flood-prone areas via FloodHelpNY (R); combined image via Streetsblog

February 18, 2016

The Brooklyn-Queens Streetcar Would Run Entirely Through Flood Zones

Leading up to Mayor de Blasio's press conference on Tuesday about his proposed Brooklyn-Queens streetcar plan, the internet has been abuzz with criticism and concerns, including whether or not it will accept MetroCard transfers, how it won't really connect to existing subway lines, funding matters, and the issue that the system may favor "tourists and yuppies." But Streetsblog makes another very interesting point–the fact that the proposed route will run almost entirely through city- and FEMA-designated high-risk flood zones, which "raises questions about how the streetcar infrastructure and vehicles would be protected from storm surges, as well as the general wisdom of siting a project that’s supposed to spur development in a flood-prone area."
What does the Mayor have to say about this?

February 16, 2016

$775K Ridgewood Duplex Is an Urban Loft on the Brooklyn-Queens Border

Those who stake their claim beyond the fringes of New York City's upscale or trendy enclaves aren’t looking for the same things their more mainstream counterparts are. Every neighborhood can’t be the West Village–or even the Brooklyn version of it. Looking for lower prices and cheaper rent calls to the adventurous–Andy Warhol and his crew carved out their Factory scene in Midtown, for example. Similarly, in the ‘90s, a flock of young space-seekers moved into former industrial spaces in Bushwick. Ridgewood was a bit further on the L and so its notable population of new residents came a little later, but they brought the same spirit. Even for the early Bushwick crowd, Ridgewood, the quintessential border town, is different, with its mix of streetscapes from historic row houses (Ridgewood has one of the largest federal historic districts in the nation) to industrial blocks much like the one on which you’ll find this one-bedroom condominium at 852 Cypress Avenue on the Ridgewood-Bushwick border.
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Distinctive Homes

February 8, 2016

Permits Filed for 964-Foot Tower in Long Island City, Will Be Queens’ Tallest

Back in August, 6sqft revealed renderings of the upcoming Long Island City skyscraper dubbed Queens Plaza Park, which is slated to rise 915 feet. At the time, this made it the tallest building planned outside of Manhattan, but a lot can change in six months. First off, Brooklyn will take the outer borough title, as a 1,066-foot tower is planned for 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension in Downtown Brooklyn. And now, Queens Plaza Park will also lose its Queens-based superlative, as The Real Deal reports that there's a new tallest building in town. Flushing-based developer Chris Jiashu Xu of United Construction & Development Group filed plans for a 79-story residential tower in Long Island City that will rise a whopping 964 feet. It's located just north of One Court Square (the borough’s current title-holder at 658 feet) at 23-15 44th Drive and is titled Court Square City View Tower. The building is designed by Goldstein, Hill & West Architects (the same firm responsible for former tallest frontrunner 42-12 28th Street) and appears to be a fairly standard glassy volume. Its 759,000 square feet of residential space will yield 774 apartments, and there will also be 200,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor.
More details and views ahead

February 5, 2016

Does the City’s Brooklyn-Queens Streetcar Plan Actually Make Sense?

Like most grand, government-backed plans, yesterday's announcement by Mayor de Blasio that he'd be supporting a proposed Brooklyn-Queens streetcar was met with flashy renderings and promises of how underserved areas and populations would finally get the access they deserve, as would booming commercial hubs like the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Sunset Park. But Streetsblog dug a little deeper and came up with several reasons why the $2.5 billion project doesn't quite add up.
Find out why

February 4, 2016

De Blasio to Announce $2.5B Brooklyn-Queens Streetcar Line

Earlier in the month, 6sqft shared news of a detailed proposal from non-profit advocacy group Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector that called for a Brooklyn-Queens streetcar line to connect "underserved, but booming" areas of the boroughs. The city must've been listening, because Mayor de Blasio is expected to announce today in his State of the City speech that he'll be backing such a proposal. Like the original scheme, the city's plan will run 16 miles along the East River, from Astoria to Sunset Park, but at a projected cost of $2.5 billion, it will be significantly more expensive than the previous estimate of $1.7 billion, but significantly less than a new underground subway. Not only would the streetcars serve bustling commercial hubs like the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Long Island City, but they'd provide access for about 45,000 public-housing residents.
More details

Transit

February 2, 2016

Escobedo Solíz Studio’s Wild ‘Woven’ Design Will Fill MoMA PS1’s Summer Courtyard

MoMA has announced that the Mexico City-based architecture firm Escobedo Solíz Studio was selected as the winner of the 2016 Young Architects Program (YAP). Chosen from five finalists, the winning project,"Weaving the Courtyard," will create a "temporary urban landscape" for the 2016 Warm Up summer music series in MoMA PS1's outdoor courtyard in Long Island City, beginning in early June. The site-specific architectural intervention will use the courtyard’s concrete walls to generate both sky and landscape, with embankments in which platforms of soil and water suggest the appearance of a unique topography. The architects describe their project as "neither an object nor a sculpture standing in the courtyard, but a series of simple, powerful actions that generate new and different atmospheres."
Find out more

January 15, 2016

Introducing Astoria’s Newest Rental Building: The ‘L’ @ 31st Drive

By Heather Cooper Vivares

Future Astoria renters, meet The "L" @ 31st Drive. Located on a sedate block at 23-36 31st Drive, the "L" is a brand-new 22-unit building with rentals ranging from $2,000/month studios to $3,200/month two-bedrooms. The design hewn by Gerald Caliendo Architects features a modern concrete and glass exterior rising five stories in height. Complementing its streamlined exterior, interiors boast floor-to-ceiling windows, light hardwood floors, clean white walls, and stainless steel appliances.
See more here

January 12, 2016

Residential Projects Surface Along the Astoria Waterfront Ahead of New Ferry Service

The Astoria waterfront is poised to become the city's next high-density residential enclave, with more than 4,000 apartments planned within the Astoria Cove and Hallets Point developments alone. Just to the south, and more modest in scale, a six-story, 65-unit condominium building is preparing to rise from a block-through site at 30-05 Vernon Boulevard. City records indicate 3005 Vernon BLVD Joint Venture LLC purchased the lot for $3 million in 2014, and filed demolition permits in November to raze the existing one-story warehouse. Renderings provided by the building's architect, Young Kim of Tan Architect, show a white brick building with a glass curtain wall on its east- and river-facing elevations. As required by zoning, on-site parking is provided at ground level, and the garage roof will hold an expansive rooftop terrace. According to Young Kim, the development is moving forward and the team is in the process of filing building permits.
Find out more

January 9, 2016

First Look at Lions Group’s New Residential Tower in Long Island City

Another day, another Long Island City project unveiled. This new build comes in at 27-51 Jackson Avenue by way of Lions Group, who are already juggling three projects nearby: Jackson East, Jackson West, and ONE Queens Plaza. Last week, the LIC Post reported demolition permits were filed to raze the two small structures on the site. Construction permits have yet to be filed, but details from the project's EB-5 offering page show a 13-story, 38,500 square foot tower designed by Flushing-based Raymond Chan Architect. The project will rise directly alongside an under construction Gene Kaufman-designed Aloft Hotel at 27-45 Jackson Avenue.
More here

January 7, 2016

Housing Lottery for Two $918/Month Apartments Across From MoMA PS1 in LIC Starts Today

The affordable housing lottery for 21-03 46th Avenue in Long Island City officially opens today, and the brand new one-bedroom luxury units will be a mere $918, according to the NYC HPD. Apartments have private terraces, ten-foot ceilings, Brazilian cherry floors, chef's kitchens with stainless steel appliances, and in-unit washers/dryers. Plus, the address is right across from MoMA PS1 and just a block away from the E, M, 7 and G subways. The catch? The building only has eight units and only two of these are deemed affordable.
Feeling lucky? Find out if you qualify.

Affordable Housing

January 6, 2016

$1.7B Light Rail Connecting the Brooklyn-Queens Waterfront Proposed

By Diane Pham

The dream of a Brooklyn-Queens light rail is moving further into the realm of reality. Back in July last year, 6sqft reported that an advisory committee comprised of developers, transportation experts and civic organizers was in the midst of forming to address the need for a more robust transportation system that could connect underserved, but booming, areas of Brooklyn and Queens. Now as the Daily News tells us, a non-profit advocacy group called Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector has officially materialized to tackle the issue, and they've just released a detailed proposal revealing the route and the potential design the modern streetcars could take on.
Find out more about the proposal here

Transit

January 5, 2016

Long Island City Rental Tower Will Offer Micro Units for ‘Gen Y Professionals’

Yesterday, 6sqft discussed how Long Island City's Purves Street is a hotbed of construction activity with no less than four residential towers underway along the 500-foot, one-block stretch. On a site situated between Thomson Avenue (where the pioneer condo Arris Lofts rises) and Court Square, Twining Properties has begun excavation work for a 27-story, 168-unit rental tower at 44-14 Purves Street. According to the developer's project page, the rental tower will be known as Watermark Court Square and is to offer "efficient apartment layouts designed for mobile professionals." The handsome albeit unremarkable design by Handel Architects is faced with grey brick and large windows. According to Department of Buildings filings, the ground-up, 302-foot-tall tower will rise along 44th Drive, while a two-story existing building will be rehabilitated along Purves.
More details and renderings

January 5, 2016

Freestanding Colonial Home Surpasses $1 Million in Flushing

By Emily Nonko

These days in New York, it's hard to get very far without running into impossibly high price tags, whether it be for a luxury condo or a Brooklyn brownstone. And in this case, you can go very far–all the way to Flushing, a Queens neighborhood that's close to Long Island–and you may still do a double-take at the pricing. The property in question is a freestanding Colonial home at 40-27 166th Street, just a few blocks from the Broadway Long Island Railroad stop. Flushing may be known as New York's second Chinatown, but this home is located in a much more suburban area, where the houses come with front lawns and garages. As for the price, it comes in at $1.15 million.
See the interior

Distinctive Homes

January 4, 2016

Website Launched for Rabsky Group’s New Long Island City Rental Tower ‘The Halo LIC’

To say that Long Island City is undergoing a construction boom is a bit of an understatement. The city's second most populous borough is building a business district...er high-rise bedroom community that will soon rival many American downtowns. The blocks along Jackson Avenue from the Pulaski Bridge to Queens Plaza have been sprinkled with development dust, and at the center of it all is a short dead-end street named Purves where four residential buildings are now under construction and four others have recently finished. Near the street's southeastern terminus, Simon Dushinsky's Rabsky Group has topped off its 26-story, 284-unit rental tower at 44-51 Purves Street and applying the last bits of the building's glass, metal and brick facade. In addition to a number of renderings and a new website, we've uncovered that the 308-foot tall building will be called 'Halo LIC," which we learned is an adjective for something silvery, or an archaic word for money (how fitting). The site was previously planned to give rise to a pair of shorter towers by the Criterion Group but the 28,000 square-foot lot was flipped in 2013 for $32 million.
find out more here

December 3, 2015

15 Hip Holiday Markets and Indie Pop-Up Shops in NYC

December's first days bring dozens of holiday gift markets whose aim is to find new homes for a wealth of shiny goodies and crafty gifts. We're all familiar with the big NYC markets, but some of the best scores–and the most fun–can be found at smaller, cooler pop-ups and local markets throughout the city. Some are only around for a weekend, others for the whole month or longer. In addition to locally-made jewelry and crafts, vintage finds, artfully curated fashions, home items and other things we didn't know we needed, these hip retail outposts offer up DJs, drinks, food, tarot readings, nail art, music, and family fun to keep shoppers' spirits bright.
Find out where to get the goods, this way

November 23, 2015

REVEALED: SHoP Architects’ Long Island City Waterfront Development

Here's our first peek at Simon Baron Development, Quadrum Global and CRE Development's three-tower Long Island City development slated to rise alongside the former Paragon Paint factory building at 45-40 Vernon Boulevard. Permits for the first tower were filed with the DOB back in June and detail a 28-story, 296-unit rental tower designed by SHoP Architects. The tower is part of a larger master plan that will revamp the eastern extents of the Anable Basin inlet with a waterfront esplanade and bring an additional 14-story residential tower at 45-24 Vernon Boulevard and an eight story building along 45th Road. As per the renderings provided by SHoP, the design of the two lower towers is consistent with many of the firm's recent New York City projects and feature copper-clad, orderly bases yielding to playful facades of angled projecting windows. The central tower partially rises from within the rear section of the Paragon Paint factory building and its form will be a sheer 300-foot glass prism creased along each elevation to better capture sweeping views of the East River and Manhattan skyline.
More details ahead

November 6, 2015

$4.25M Forest Hills Mansion Has Multiple Personalities

By Emily Nonko

Check out this Tudor mansion at 70 Greenway South in Forest Hills Gardens. This Queens enclave is home to some of the finest–and most magnificent–freestanding Tudor homes in all of New York, and the neighborhood's quiet and winding streets feel way more like a suburb than most of the city. This house, according to the listing, was "awarded First Prize for excellence in design and civic value in 1929." While we couldn't find more details on the award, it sure sounds fancy– there's even a plaque up on the facade. The exterior is really impressive, with inlaid stone, a turret above the entryway, and a highly-pitched roof. You also can't go wrong with a yard and a stone walkway out front, with another yard and two-car garage in back. But inside, this house is having an identity crisis. It's medieval with a hint of...something.
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Philip Johnson’s New York State Pavilion Debuts Its ‘American Cheese Yellow’ Paint Job

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

October 16, 2015

Philip Johnson’s New York State Pavilion Debuts Its ‘American Cheese Yellow’ Paint Job

After 8,000 hours and 1,600 gallons of paint, the New York State Pavilion's Tent of Tomorrow is camera-ready for its spot on Open House New York Weekend. The Daily News reports that Philip Johnson's iconic World's Fair structure in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is now sporting a fresh coat of "American Cheese Yellow" paint. The job "included power-washing off decades of rust, applying primer and the historically accurate paint while working on a platform suspended 100 feet in the air," and it cost $3 million. It'll certainly be all over Instagram tomorrow and Sunday, but some ambitious architecture lovers have already gotten up close to the landmark.
Have a look at the pictures here

Architecture And Design

October 14, 2015

REVEALED: First Look at GDC Properties’ Townhouses Coming to Long Island City