As if you needed another reason to come move to Long Island City. Now Toll Brothers is sweetning up the deal at 5SL, by offering buyers 1 year of living for free at 5th Street Lofts, thats right, no mortgage, no common charges, no real estate taxes, That plus the buyers protection plan, as stated in this email i got last night. I mean people how can you resist now?
Posted By: Eric Benaim
So for the past several months there has been construction going on at 4730 Vernon Blvd, No one knew exactly what was going on in there, other then it was a restaurant, Well i think its about time everyone got a peak inside. Testaccio - will be a high end Italian Restaurant focusing on dishes from Rome. Owners Carlo & Paul Bardone along with long time friend Alviero Pirani have partnered with Chef Ivan Beacco - Former Head Chef of Borgo Antico - and have retained the design firm Dizon Collective, to take on this project, mixing both rustic and modern elements, on three levels, seating over 100 people, featuring Brick Oven Pizza, where the Brick Oven was recently shipped to NY from Rome. “This is just what LIC needs, a taste of Manhattan” says the two brothers and owners of the restaurant. The restaurant is scheduled to be open sometime in late August or Early September, But Long Island City will be able to get its first taste of Testaccio
in the Taste of LIC
Happening Tuesday June 9th at the Gantry Plaza - Begining at 6:30pm, Gift certificates will be raffled off…
More parking workshops ! The first round of workshops was last November, held by the City Department of Transportation (DOT). These public workshops will further address community concerns about the possible impact of congestion pricing on neighborhood parking, especially those that risk being “park and ride” nabes for out of town drivers. Here’s the 411 on the workshops:
Tuesday, 1/29
Long Island City
6:30 p.m.
Doors open at 6:00
Citicorp Building
1 Court Square
Long Island City
Wednesday, 1/30
Forest Hills, Queens
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Doors open at 6:30
Forest Hills Jewish Center
106-06 Queens Boulevard
Forest Hills
Related:
DOT Parking Workshops - Second Round [NYC DOT]
Workshops to Address Queens Neighborhood Parking [previously on OuterB]
The Slummification of Kissena Boulevard [Citizen of the Month]
Update for the Long Island City Sundial [LIC Sundial]
This is still one of the best videos on Long Island City [LICNYC]
Is Queens the New Brooklyn? [drawger.com via Jackson Heights Life]
Hello, G Train! [NY Times]
Photo credit: Dmadeo
on Wikimedia Commons
Perhaps a little bit of old news, but LIC won the 2007 Curbed Cup. According to Curbed, this Cup represents “the neighborhood that most defined New York City this year”. Of course, amidst the waves of grey comments, the haters came out to hate on LIC (and, predictably, Arris Lofts). Still, the potential thousands of votes trump all (in the Curbed universe, that is). I think LIC is a great neighborhood and I look forward to seeing how it changes over the years.
While perusing Craigslist, I came across a listing for a 1 bedroom condo on 31st Ave. Turns out it’s in the Citiview Condo development, one of the boutique condo buildings overseen by Corcoran. It’s a one bedroom/1.5 bath, with bamboo hardwood floors, radiant heat and A/C, 10-foot ceilings, and there’s a gym, laundry facilities, and a “Zen rooftop garden” (I’d love to see that). You even get a balcony with the unit.
You can take virtual tour of the condo on Re/Max’s Obeo site. I like what I see on the website - lots of light (I love the glass block elements) and lovely wood, stainless kitchen appliances. The condo is priced at $479,000.
1 bedroom condo
12-14 31st Ave
Astoria/Long Island City
This weekend we learned that there has been toxic seepage underground in Long Island City. An industrial pollutant and carcinogen named trichloroethylene (TCE) was found in the groundwater and soil beneath the old Swingline building (Queens Blvd near 33rd Street) - this building housed MOMA when it was in Queens. The DEC is investigating 8-12 buildings within a one block radius of the contaminated area, and later this month the LIC YMCA will be tested.
A DEC representative says “there is no current public health risk”, but they are testing just the same. They also won’t release information as to how much of the toxin is under the Swingline building. Part of me wants to know this info but the other part of me is horrified. I guess I shouldn’t be, as LIC has an industrial past, but it’s still pretty gross.
More here:
STATE FEARS TOXIC SPREAD IN QUEENS [NY Post]
LIC has been hot this week in the news, especially:
LIC condos open to public. [Times Ledger]
No Community Board says, CUNY Grad School dorm in LIC . [NY Daily News]
Curbed likes the shiny Powerhouse. [Curbed]
One of Karl Fischer’s favorite projects is the Powerhouse! [The Real Deal]
And elsewhere:
B’KLYN, QNS. FORECLOSURES SOAR [NY Post]
The End of “White Flight”? [Gotham Gazette]
DEP starts four major improvements in Queens to prevent flooding [NY Daily News]
Keep an inventory of your stuff, homeowners
Fighting Graffiti at 110th Precinct [Junction Blvd]
Photo credit: Meg Cotner
This weekend, an OuterB tipster forwarded recent news gossip about the Crescent Club from the Post’s “We Hear…”
…Part-time actor Carlos Leon
, Madonna’s long-ago ex and father of Lourdes, will design the fitness center of the Crescent Club, a new condo in Long Island City.
Fancy!
Related:
Perusing my RSS reader, I see that Amol at LICNYC has a little bit on the brother condos that are Hunters Point: One Hunters Point and Hunters View. These condos sparked a substantial discussion earlier on OuterB. Well, these condos have topped out and they held a little shindig at PS1. Amol says:
Apparently they are nearing 1/2 sold out after 6 weeks on sale. Pretty good sign for LIC projects, if you want LICNYC’s opinion.
I’d agree with that. Note the wording “good sign for LIC Projects
,” which I interpret as pretty good sign for the developers. There are definitely criticisms about these buildings, including their location. In the words of OuterB commenter wayne:
One Hunters Point has a great view of the MTA cooling tower nearby, and nothing you can say can convince me that Hunter’s View, at the intersection of two major truck routes, a drawbridge, a subway and railroad yard, and an asthma-producing highway toll plaza, is the ideal place to live. To even get to the Vernon-Jackson #7 station from HV, you have to go under the Pulaski or cross the street, because there is no legal crosswalk directly from the building down Jackson on the south side of the street.
It makes me wonder if things like legal crosswalks will be installed after more people move to the area. These things can be circular, as I envision will be the case near Queens Plaza. The area sucks right now with regard to safety, whether it’s danger from cars or skeevy individuals that hang around the “gentleman’s clubs”. But if more people move in, will changes be forced? Of course, certain things can’t really change near the Hunters Point condos: for instance, the subway and rail yards as well as the Pulaski Bridge aren’t going anywhere. But, when people move to the area, will they demand changes that can potentially increase their quality of life?
Anyway, these are interesting things to consider. Changes are coming, there’s no doubt. But what kind of changes… that’s what’s exciting to consider.
Related:
Topping out [LICNYC]
One Hunters Point and Hunters View in LIC [Previously on OuterB]
Broker for Modern Spaces A Full Service Real Estate Company, Based out of Long Island City. A Real Estate Obssessed Broker / Blogger, Native New Yorker and resident of Long Island City. Lover of Architecture both old and new, Dedicated to giving good service, feel free to email me anytime
