The Wall Street Journal rekindled talk of a massive rezoning of the Queens Plaza/Court Square neighborhood. We hinted at this back in September, now I guess the rest of the world knows. Not that the current zoning laws have curtailed the construction of super tall residential buildings in those areas. More likely, market forces will actually have the opposite effect on that area in the medium term, as the second story indicates that Manhattan may have too much rental volume coming on and prices are softening. If that sounds familiar, I said something similar in May:
I predict rental rates in Court Square will be flat to down over the next few years. Quite simply, there is too much supply coming on in the area. In addition, there are a lot of new rental units being built in Manhattan and Brooklyn, which will impact peoples decision to stay in their current location and not move to LIC.
At least there will be additional supermarket footage to serve them, as the Court Square Blog writes that Key Foods is expanding into the Kitchen Door space on the corner of 21st Street and 44th Drive. With that closing, the only thing I don’t know is where I will buy my lottery tickets now?
Finally, Time Out New York calls Queens NY’s hottest borough. Ahh, that’s something we all knew.
Setting Sights on More High Rises in LIC – “City Hall is targeting the Queens neighborhood along the East River and just north of the Long Island Expressway for a possible rezoning that would promote the construction around Queens Plaza of more high-rise apartment buildings”
New York Luxury Towers Draw Renters to the Outer Boroughs – “in Long Island City, new leases rose 121 percent to 137, while rents climbed 5.9 percent to $2,839.”
Key Foods Expands into Former Kitchen Door Space – Stuy Town loses Ess-a-Bagel, we lose Kitchen Door
$5.2 Million for Five Units in the Heart of Hunters Point – long stalled project on 51st Ave next to Alewife, now up in a lump sum
Time Out New York Bows Down to Queens – All Hail the Queens, a love letter to New York’s hottest borough
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