Queens

Forest Hills Gardens, a planned community in Queens that's known for its winding streets and Tudor architecture, is home to some of the most impressive freestanding homes in all of New York. Here's one at 63 Wendover Road -- it occupies a corner lot so it boasts plenty of lawn outside, as well as a long private driveway that leads to a two-car garage. From the interior, you have not one but two sun rooms to enjoy the view out onto the sprawling backyard. Suburban life in Queens doesn't sound so bad.
See the interior

Distinctive Homes

March 31, 2016

Rent Governor Cuomo’s Former Douglaston Manor for $6,000/Month

Last year, Governor Cuomo's former mansion in the suburban waterfront enclave of Douglaston, Queens hit the market looking like something straight out of the Great Gatsby. Cuomo lived in the sprawling home with his ex wife Kerry Kennedy, but sold it in 1993, when he joined the Clinton administration. It's a six-bedroom, Mediterranean-style manor that was constructed in the 1920s and was asking $2.7 million. In January, the home sold for a cool $2.4 million. And the new buyers have listed it for rent, asking $6,000 a month. In Manhattan, $6,000 a month could definitely get you a nice apartment, but it couldn't get you a mansion and outdoor space this impressive. It's enough to lure a person way out to Douglaston.
Take a look around

March 24, 2016

Two-Bedroom Apartment with Massive Foyer in Jackson Heights Asks $599K

Jackson Heights has a large stock of lovely co-op apartments, and this is one of them. It's a two-bedroom unit from 83-10 35th Street, one of the historic district buildings with a central, shared courtyard for residents. (When Jackson Heights was developed, it was called a "garden city" for those very courtyards.) It boasts a spacious floorplan and a foyer so large that, according to the listing, the seller put up a sliding door to create an extra guest bedroom.
See the rest of the apartment

Distinctive Homes

March 23, 2016

See New Nighttime Renderings of Long Island City’s Upcoming Dream Hotel

Near Long Island City's East River waterfront, work has begun on an eleven-story, 199-room DREAM Hotel conceived through a joint venture between Millhouse Peck Properties, Barone Management and MATT Development. The hotel will rise from a full-block, commercially-zoned lot between 44th Road, 44th Avenue, and 9th and 10th streets, which was previously home to Manhattan Cabinetry's factory building (the company has since relocated those operations to Woodside). Stephen B. Jacobs Group has been tapped as the architect and the studio has designed a Standard Hotel-esque tower where the room floors are pitched above various restaurants, bars and outdoor terraces. New nighttime renderings show windows framed by LED lighting. A previous image suggested the developers were looking to salvage a corner facade of the factory-building, but the facade is no longer depicted in the new set of renderings and the entire factory structure has been cleared from the site.
even more details here

March 22, 2016

Apply for 83 Affordable Apartments in Astoria, Starting at $895/Month

The affordable housing lottery has commenced for 83 brand new apartments at the Steinway Estates in Astoria, per the NYC HPD. Units will range from $895/month studios to $2,586/month three-bedrooms, with annual income requirements varying from $32,023 for a single-person household to $130,260 for a six-person household. The development at 19-80 Steinway Street is on the edge of the Steinway IBZ (Industrial Business Zone) and was originally known as the Vesta or Vesta Q when it first surfaced as a mixed-use project back in 2008. Exact details on the building aren't clear, but renderings from Garrett Gourlay Architect show a four-story, corner-lot structure with landscaped outdoor areas and contemporary apartments.
Find out more about Steinway Estates

Affordable Housing

March 14, 2016

Queens’ New Skyline: A Rundown of the 30 Developments Coming to Long Island City

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

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.
READ MORE

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