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.

New developments encircling LIC’s long-tallest Court Square Tower

Cluster of towers planned around the Queens Plaza transit hub

The captured view looks west over Sunnyside Railyards, and chiefly shows the towers planned around the Court Square and Queens Plaza transit hubs. So far, the vast majority of the planned towers have been of residential use, though a few commercial office proposals are stirring. With the neighborhood’s quick access to Midtown and now Hudson Yards, it’s no mystery why LIC is turning into Manhattan’s bedroom community.

According to Zum-3d’s page:

Our part was to gather helicopter footage of the existing area, and fill in the blanks with all of the upcoming developments for the next six years. The idea is to tie all of the planned projects to a fluid timeline that captures the process from start to finish. Working on two separate views of the neighborhood, we capture the process from every angle. Real photography is blended with 3D rendering to create a complete picture that lets us glimpse into the future. Using existing architectural designs of planned projects, we created fully fleshed-out realizations, complete with realistic textures and lighting effects. The high level of detail is important, to give a realistic sense of the buildings once they are completed. The final result is a completely new urban landscape that must be seen to be believed.

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Here’s a look at the 28 under-construction and proposed developments for Long Island City. The annotations correspond to the lineup below and generally move from left to right (south to north) in the image. Astoundingly, the depiction doesn’t even paint the full picture. Missing in the image are dozens of smaller, hidden developments that include the 12 or so mid-rise hotels rising in Dutch Kills, a sprinkling of upcoming residential buildings in the Hunters Point area, and a full necklace of towers that will line the neighborhood’s waterfront (a.k.a. Vancouver on the East River) from Newtown Creek to the Queensboro Bridge.

5Pointz Tower A ↑

22-44 Jackson Avenue
48 stories | 498 feet
1,115 Rental Units | 1,209,884 Square Feet (Combined total)
David Wolkoff (G&M Realty) | HTO Architects
Under Construction | Winter 2017

5Pointz Tower B ↑

22-44 Jackson Avenue
41 Stories | 440 feet
1,115 Rental Units | 1,209,884 Square Feet (Combined total)
David Wolkoff (G&M Realty) | HTO Architects
Under Construction | Winter 2017

More Information:

• New Renderings of What Will Replace Graffiti Art Mecca 5Pointz Emerge
• 5Pointz Artists Sue Developer for Whitewashing Iconic Graffiti Facade
• 5Pointz Artists Petition Against Developer Using Iconic Name for New Residential Towers

Toyoko Inn Long Island City ↑

24-05-24-19 Jackson Avenue
35 Stories | 362 Feet
708 Hotel Units | 184,500 Square Feetz
Toyoko Inn Co. Ltd. | Gene Kaufman Architect
On Hold

5 Court Square ↑

25-24 Jackson Avenue
125 feet | 11 Stories
73 Rental Units | 62,908 Square Feet
David Wu | MY Architect
Proposed

43-30 24th Street ↑

Residential | 839,000 Square Feet
Stawski Partners| Goldstein, Hill & West Architects
Proposed 2016

43-25 Hunter Street ↑

50 stories | 535 feet
974 Rentals Units | 921,592 Square Feet
Rockrose Development Corp. | SLCE Architects
Under Construction | Summer 2017

44-28 Purves Street ↑

383 Feet | 35 Stories
270 Rental Units | 267,000 Square Feet
Brause Realty and Gotham Organization | FXFOWLE Architects
Under Construction | 2017

44-46 Purves Street ↑

7 Stories | 82 Feet
33 Residential Units | 43,281 Square Feet
Jewel Liton LLC | Gerald J. Caliendo Architects
Proposed | 2016

The Argent ↑

44-41 Purves Street
26 Stories | 308 Feet
284 Rental Units | 259,805 Square Feet
Rabsky Group | Albo Liberis
Under Construction | 2014- Early 2016

More Information:

• Website Launched for Rabsky Group’s New Long Island City Rental Tower ‘The Argent’

Jackson East ↑

26-32 Jackson Avenue – 26-38 Jackson Avenue
37 Stories
Lions Group | Raymond Chan Architect
Proposed

Jackson West ↑

27-01 Jackson Avenue
30 Stories
Lions Group | Raymond Chan Architect
Proposed

More Information:

• REVEALED: Lions Group Developing Complementary Skyscrapers in Long Island City

Factory House ↑

42-60 Crescent Street / 24-19 43 Avenue
10 Stories | 120 feet
40 Residential Condominiums | 56,711 Square Feet
Joseph Palumbo-Rising Developers Group | Alfredo T. Fredericks
Under Construction | 2014-2016

Queens Plaza South ↑

23-10 Queens Plaza South
44 Stories | 510 Feet
391 Residential Condominiums | 337,096 Square Feet
Property Markets Group | SLCE Architects
Under Construction | 2014 – Early 2016

Crowne Plaza Hotel ↑

42-37 Crescent Street / 25-10 Queens Road
11 Stories | 121 feet
180 Hotel Rooms | 93,364 Square Feet
Royal One Estate Corporation | Nobutaka Ashihara Architects
Proposed

Eagle Electric Factory Redevelopment ↑

43-22 Queens Street
598 Feet | 54 Stories
783 Rental Units | 712,013 Square Feet
Rockrose Development Corp. | SLCE Architects
Under Construction | 2017

Aloft by W Hotel ↑

27-45 Jackson Avenue
18 Stories | 186 Feet
176 Hotel Rooms | 66,996 Square Feet
Nissim Seliktar | Gene Kaufman Architect
Under Construction | 2013 – 2016

42-14 Crescent Street ↑

13 Stories | 158 Feet
48 Rental Units | 44,061 Square Feet
Meadow Partners | John Fotiadis Architects
Under Construction | 2014-2016

Star Tower ↑

27-17 42nd Road
25 Stories | 258 Feet
184 Residential Condominium Units | 221,266 Square Feet
42-26 28th Street, LLC (Roe Development) | JLS Designs
Under Construction | 2008-2017

43-15 Queens Street ↑

Approximately 35-40 Stories
BLDG Management
Proposed

Gotham Center Residential Tower A ↑

28-10 Jackson Avenue
44 Stories | 504 Feet
683 Residential Rentals | 521,390 Square Feet
Tishman Speyer Properties | Goldstein, Hill & West Architects
Under Construction | 2015-2017

Gotham Center Residential Tower B1 ↑

28-34 Jackson Avenue
53 Stories | 591 Feet
658 Residential Rentals | 501,049 Square Feet
Tishman Speyer Properties | Goldstein, Hill & West Architects
Under Construction | 2015-2017

Gotham Center Residential Tower B2 ↑

30-02 Queens Boulevard
33 Stories | 374 Feet
448 Residential Rentals | 371,723 Square Feet
Tishman Speyer Properties | Goldstein, Hill & West Architects
Under Construction | 2015-2017

Courtyard Long Island City/New York Manhattan View ↑

29-07 Queens Plaza North
31 Stories | 350 Feet
295 Hotel Rooms | 237,695 Square Feet
Harry Gross (G Holdings LLC/Granite Queens Plaza LLC) | Handel Architects
Under Construction | 2014-Early 2016

29-32 Northern Boulevard ↑

44 stories | 481 Feet
481 Residential Units | 500,302 Square Feet
Simon Baron Development (QSB Northern LLC) | Stephen B. Jacobs Group
Under Construction 2015-2017

Queens Plaza Park ↑

29-37 41st Avenue
70 Stories | 772 Feet
930 Residential Condominium and Rental Units | 1,033,176 Square Feet
Property Markets Group | SLCE Architects
Proposed | 2019

More Information:

• Permits Filed for 964-Foot Tower in Long Island City, Will Be Queens’ Tallest
• REVEALED: New Renderings of PMG’s Queens Plaza Park, the Future Tallest Tower Outside Manhattan
• Long Island City Tower Will Be Tallest Residential Skyscraper in NYC Outside of Manhattan
• Citigroup Will Sell Site to Feed Long Island City’s Growing Skyline

Court Square City View Tower ↑

23-15 44th Drive
79 Stories | 964 Feet
774 Residential Units | 999,664 Square Feet
United Construction & Development | Goldstein, Hill & West Architects
Proposed | 2017

Watermark Court Square ↑

44-16 Purves Street
27 Stories | 307 Feet
168 Rental Units | 151,021 Square Feet
Twinning Properties | Handel Architects
Under Construction | 2015 -2017

28 on 28th ↑

42-15 27th Street
58 Stories | 647 Feet
477 Units | 496,412 Square Feet
Heatherwood Communities | Goldstein, Hill & West
Under Construction | 2014-2016

More Information:

• First Look at the Amenities in Queens’ Tallest Residential Skyscraper 28 on 28th
• Long Island City Tower Will Be Tallest Residential Skyscraper in NYC Outside of Manhattan

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There you have it; unfortunately most LIC’s latest developments are bereft of any architectural qualities, despite the fact developers were given a rather unconstrained blank slate. Only a handful of developments, such as FXFowle’s Purves Street tower, show potential. But overall, the borough will, at least into the near future, remain devoid of any true landmark.

LIC’s development also shows just how good we’ve gotten at tower-building and how poor we are at city-building. The neighborhood still lacks most basic amenities, and its auto-centric streetscape remains abysmal (though plans are in the works to make it less so). Unlike Downtown Brooklyn, LIC isn’t benefitted with a set of charming historical bones to make its future cityscape less anonymous. Nonetheless, these projects will sprout 24,500 units of much-needed housing according to the Long Island City Partnership, and if the point is to pack in as many residents as possible, then LIC will be a roaring success.

According to CityRealty, the median annual price per square foot of rental apartments in Long Island City stands at $53, which is quite a bargain when compared to most Manhattan locales. LIC’s 72 currently available one-bedroom apartments are asking a median rent of $3,063 per month and are mostly within new developments constructed in the last decade.