A thousand reasons to love Long Island City. Tips: Editor@LICtalk.com
How about some local real estate data points for Valentine’s Day? Yeah, that oughta get everyone excited. First, The Forge, a rental building in Court Square which opened in August 2017 is 50 percent leased. It has 272 units and was developed by the Gotham Organization and Brause Realty. Next, [Read more…] about VALENTINE THOUGHTS ON REAL ESTATE IN LIC
THE petition to include a community center with a pool in the Plaxall rezoning has surpassed its goal of 500 signatures. That’s 500+ residents of Hunters Point who now await the final decision by the city like a child waits for Christmas morning.
Nevertheless as mentioned last week, the expense to include this much needed facility for the community is negligible. Cut 10% of the whopping 300k square feet allocated to light industrial and reclaim 20k sq ft. of now redundant resident-only gym space from the new residential towers, and bingo: a 50k sq ft. rec center with more than enough room for a pool, gym, studios, etc. Throw in that the build-out on a massive project should be benefiting from tremendous economies of scale, and both the real estate and cash costs are greatly reduced.
In light of this may our elected officials put aside their priorities and consider those of the locals in this not unreasonable request.
//HEY, did you watch the Pepsi halftime show during this year’s SuperBowl? If so then you couldn’t miss the opening [Read more…] about REC CENTER PETITION OVER 500 SIGNATURES & JIMMY FALLON
Last year’s ‘it’ food was poke, which came and left Long Island City with barely a trace. Crabs have vanished too. In previous years I speculated baby food and roadkill might gain traction in LIC. 2018 looks to be [Read more…] about LONG ISLAND CITY 2018 RESTAURANT ROUND-UP
It’s deja vu all over again when it comes to schools in Hunters Point. Over half-a-decade ago, which in LIC-years is two generations, LICtalk wrote about similar capacity crises, and then again in 2015 (aka one-generation past). The calculations back then turned out to be not as drastic, partly because the powers-that-be instituted some fairly obvious solutions – but not before riling up the parent base. It all (sorta) worked out in the end, and will probably do likewise this time – but not before riling up the next generation of parents. Nevertheless when the furor dies down, maybe we should take some advice from the latter article and funnel the energy into what’s next and not-too-far-away: high school. A very wise local mother has wondered why NYC hasn’t expanded capacity of it’s elite-8 (Stuyvesant/Bronx Sci etc.) despite tremendous growth in the student population over the years? Furthermore, having noticed LIC’s growth and desire-to-be-on-the-cutting-edge, or the cusp of it anyway, she asks might there be a chance to locate one here? Technion High anyone?
//DON’T be fooled, were congestion pricing to be enacted you very well could pay to cross the Queensboro Bridge were you to use it both there and back no matter which direction you head upon arriving in Manhattan. That is because [Read more…] about HI SCHOOL? BRIDGE TOLLS? XI’AN FAMOUS FOODS COMING TO LIC!
While I wrote recently that I might expound on the rationale for adding a rec center in Hunters Point, I’ve decided I would provide an excerpt that I wrote to Robert Dobruskin, the director in the NYC Planning Dept. who is collecting community comments on the Anable Basin rezoning. The excerpt is below. More importantly, if you haven’t already please sign the petition being circulated to bring a community center to Hunters Point.
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//YESTERDAY the little information fairies were asked to distribute a memorandum to their parents announcing a meeting about a new District Elementary School to be incubated in Long Island City in the [Read more…] about PETITION, LETTER, & NEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL INCUBATION