editor

WEEKEND STUFF

May 10, 2013 by editor 6 Comments

As the weekend is here, I am going to spare everyone my recent bout of long windedness, and also the heavy topics of business and real estate at which I excel. I am tired and I need to rest up for the LIC Arts Open(LICAO) happening next week, May 15th -19th, all over our town. In addition to attending all the fetes and after-parties, I’ll be on the lookout for the next Andy Warhol or Damien Hirst, as my walls and halls are already bursting from their works. Continuing on with a bombardment of culture hitting LIC, MoMA PS1 has a new installation opening up this weekend, and it looks pretty cool. Also I need to preserve my inner-blowhard for the public hearing on the proposed 5Pointz development on Wednesday, May 22nd at 7pm at MoMA PS1. Play time is almost here, enjoy the weekend.

LIC Arts Open(LICAO) – click on the brochure for the full agenda. A lot of different events & happenings all over LIC. Next year how about a parade?

Rain Room Coming to MoMA PS1 – one word: trippy!

Community Board 2 Public Hearing on 5Pointz Development – ask’em for details on how it will cast shadows on Murray Park per the environmental impact study. I dare you!

LIC Strip Club ‘Show Palace’ One step Closer to Liquor License – in the meantime, you can still enjoy the buffet

Cops Hunt For Armed Carjacker in LIC – more sad than scary

->Police Capture Carjacking Suspect – huzzah!

Sweet and Low, Manhattan Isn’t the Only Place for New Developments – talks and gives prices on several new condo buildings in town.

TOP TEN COMMENTS ABOUT LIC’S FUTURE

May 8, 2013 by editor 9 Comments

Coming Soon: large apartments with unparalleled views

Last week, an organization named Bisnow held a real estate event entitled “The Future of Long Island City.” Per the photos, it looked like your standard networking scene: suits ‘n ties, coffee and donuts, Jimmy Van Bramer. Furthermore, seeing as how it came exactly one week after the LIC Partnership’s Real Estate breakfast, one would think there wasn’t much new to say on the topic. Au contraire. So here is LICtalk’s Top 10 comments from this blowout, in no particular order, plus our spin on them.

1. Jimmy Van Bramer wants ferry to also dock further north in LIC. Good idea …oh wait, that would bring more traffic to the area, I just don’t know.

2. Jimmy Van Bramer says that Woodside is the geographic center of NYC, thus logically Manhattan is the real outer borough. Yup, everybody’s getting on my bandwagon. Here’s where I called Manhattanites the real bridge and tunnel people.

3. Andrew Nimmer of TheLocalHostels mentions his new hostel coming to LIC in the fall. Hostel is french for orgy.

4. Al Holloman of CBRE says that 5-33 48th Avenue is slated to be medical offices, restaurants, and retail. Hmm, I heard a boutique hotel and steakhouse, but by the time it’s finished I would recommend condos.

5. One expert called LIC “the best place in NYC to be under 5 years old.” Gosh, I didn’t realize that everyone in the NYC real estate world was reading my website.

6. Eric Benaim says that it seems like everyone moved to LIC five years ago and all decided to procreate. Or as I like to think, LIC is the breeding ground for yuppies.

7. Per the developer, 40% of the first two Hunters Point South towers will be two-bedrooms or larger. You just need to work less to qualify.

8. Justin Elghanayan of Rockrose says that when they first started leasing 5 plus years ago, the average renter was 26 years old. Today that number is 32. LIC For Life?

9. Winick Realty’s Hal Shapiro, the leasing agent on the Lightstone retail space(adjacent to The Powerhouse), is hoping for a gourmet market and a coffee shop. Uhh, didn’t Eric Benaim let the cat out of the bag the week before that we’re getting a supermarket?

10. Christie Brinkley and Billy Joel held their wedding reception at LIC’s Waters Edge, the site of Bisnow’s confab, back in 1985! Ok, this is one from the past, but I think we’ve come full circle. Nobody has a better line on celebrities in LIC than LICtalk. Whether they be Blake Lively, Tom and Gisele, or the New York Mets.

So, what’s the main takeaway from this top ten list? LICtalk is in the thick of it when it comes to Long Island City real estate. More importantly, we tell you what is going to happen in the future, so stay tuned…

What Is This, Europe? – Bisnow’s full article on their LIC event last Thursday

LIC Flea and Food To Open In June – not much new on this

New LIC Condo Five27 Quietly Goes Up for Sale – some Russian oligarch will probably buy it and turn into a one family home, for his daughter.

Mt. Sinai Queens in LIC is Expanding – $113 million expansion will create new 5-story modern facility w/ more emergency and operating rooms

LIC FOR LIFE?

May 6, 2013 by editor 11 Comments

Would you want to live in Long Island City for the rest of your life? Is asking a question like this our way of pandering for comments? No silly rabbit, this is actually a sneaky way for us to link back to the companion piece to this story “The Culling of The Herd.” Of course, I have just chosen to stay here in LIC because I don’t want to deal with a potential Amityville Horror thing in the suburbs, but there are many other good reasons to do so. Let’s start with our public schools. They are good now, on the cusp of getting much, much better, and parts of them are about to be moved into two brand new buildings. I cannot attest to what the high school will be like, as it is a complete start-up, but the elementary school is bringing the administration and staff from PS78, so you basically know what you’re getting. Plus, once you’re in, you’re in! That gives mommies and daddies a nine year window not to worry about a thing. Check out the first story I link to from yesterday’s New York Times, about parents moving to NYC school districts just to punch the “admittance” card. Next up: Why are the schools getting better? One look around LIC and it’s obvious the demographic is going to change. Want to see the evolution of this in warp speed? Ok folks, it’s time for another trip on the wayback machine, this time to 1988: PS87 on the UWS had just started making the implementations that would today make it a feeder school for Princeton. Check it out in story #2. Alright, looking into the future, it’s 2025 and you’ve gotten the kids through school, now what? Hmm, you’re living in a location with unprecedented access to all parts of the Manhattan/Brooklyn culture scene. Of course by then all the artists will have to commute in from Farmingdale and Speonk. Also, LIC will have not one but two Peruvian restaurants by the next decade, as the one-man construction team has started up again on the Crossroads Diner at the foot of the Pulaski Bridge. The restaurant will feature ceviche with freshly caught fish from the East River, but until then you can get land-based rotisserie chicken delivered from The Inkan on 23rd Street near Court Square. You will also have great athletic facilities, many in a beautiful setting: Gantry State Park, HPS City Park, Queens West Field, and two new schools with gymnasiums. Plus, I hear Jimmy Van Bramer has secured $75,000 for new shuffleboard courts in Murray Park. Finally, and most importantly: all your friends will be here. So really people, why would you ever want to live anywhere else?

Ok, maybe the shuffle board courts requisition is a little premature, but you can get your chance to suggest it tomorrow night at a fundraiser for Jimmy Van Bramer:

My re-election campaign is going extremely well, and I need your help to make sure that I continue representing the 26th Council District. This coming Tuesday, my friends Gretchen Werwaiss and her father John Werwaiss are hosting a fundraiser for me from 6PM – 8PM at LIC Bar at 46th Avenue and Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City. It would mean a lot to me if you could stop by for a drink and lend your support. Please RSVP to VanBramer2013@gmail.com.

Your Address As Get-Into-School-Card – yeah, there’s no guarantee you will get in; but once you’re child is in, she’s golden

Why They’re Pleading To Get Into P.S. 87 – public school insanity goes back three decades. It should take about three years in LIC, or maybe just one

62-Year Old Woman, Adopted by 85-Year Old Man For His $100-a-month Apartment – right in the heart of Hunters Point on 47th Rd.

Fake Delivery Man Steals High End Cleansing Juices – $150K worth, just try to fence those though!

Un Dimanche Apres-Midi a Long Island City – the French are onto us and are now saying “Au revoir Brooklyn”

What’s The Deal? – SF based company that makes app for hailing cabs on smartphones is expanding their LIC office

SPRING MUSINGS IN LIC

May 2, 2013 by editor 7 Comments

Spring has sprung 2013 — Murray Park Jungle

Walking around in the warm weather today got me thinking of what’s to come in LIC in the not-too-distant future. As I passed Shady Park, I wondered “Hmm, we’re weeks away from the first stretch of hot weather. If we can’t get any sun relief, can they at least open up other parts of the park?” Ambling west 100 feet, I noticed a newly vacant lot where a single story structure had existed several months ago. One look at the footprint of the lot and the Trump in me quickly calculated the profits I could make building eight 3-bedroom condos on it. So I rewarded myself with an ice cream cone from Mister Softee on Center Boulevard. Which got me thinking about the new Japanese Restaurant coming to Jackson Avenue, a few doors down from Manetta’s. The thought I had was “My how far this town has come, when it actually attracts an Asian restaurant that doesn’t have to cross every culinary border in order to attract a crowd.” Hibino, which currently has a location in Cobble Hill, serves “Fresh homemade tofu, Kyoto style obanzai (Japanese tapas), and sushi in both traditional and new style” according to their website. Don’t get too excited as this will require almost a complete build-out. So we’ll probably be off Daylight Savings Time before we’re guzzling raw fish and sake at Hibino. In the more immediate future, actually the very recent past, Tuesday night to be exact, the PS78Q PTA raised over $20,000 at its first ever local fundraiser. The funds raised at the event will be used for specialty arts programs, technological upgrades, and an after school program. Feeling guilty about not contributing to this event? Fear not, because as anyone in Hunters Point knows, the big finale to the LIC social season is the Spring Fair organized by the P.T.A. on Saturday, June 1st between 12pm and 3pm on Center Boulevard in front of P.S. 78. Unfortunately, unlike the previous event, I’m told there won’t be body shots.

Hibino in Cobble Hill Website – fugu comes to LIC

LICP Holds Real Estate Breakfast – no green eggs and ham, but lotsa talk about square footage

Jamestown Mulling Chelsea Market Type Conversion in LIC – mull might be too strong a word, unless you’re thinking next decade

Jack Eichenbaum’s Queens Tours – four upcoming in LIC this spring

Community Celebrates LIC Flea and Food Announcement – kicks off on Saturday, June 15 at the corner of 5th Street and 46th Avenue and will include a mix of about 60 vendors selling their unique products every Saturday and Sunday.

City Seeks Developer For 1,000 Affordable Apartments – phase II of Hunters Point South

HUNTERS POINT LIBRARY FENCE WRAP VANDALIZED

April 30, 2013 by editor 10 Comments

Farhenheit 451 today? — Fahrenheit 451 comes to LIC (click on pic for detail)

Hey, did you notice the terrific mural installed last week around the Hunters Point Library site? Well inside of 72 hours, some schmuck came along with a box cutter and dissected it. Earlier today I received this in an email from a concerned and outraged resident:

Many of you may already know this by now, but in walking along Center Boulevard this morning, I noticed that the newly installed scrim was sliced with (probably) some sort of knife on almost half of the surfaces! I was heart-broken and I’m furious, as this scrim was providing not only an nice, aesthetic coverage of the work sight, but also a sign of progress for our library – some excitement that soon it will be built. I spoke to 2 workers who were tending to it on my way back to my building and they said it happened over the weekend. The workers said the scrim cost $6,000 to create and produce and that they won’t be repairing it – it will stay that way the duration until the library is complete.

The resident sent the same email to the LIC powers-that-be and received the following response:

Dear –,

My name is Jen Manley, I am the VP of Government and Community Affairs at the Queens Library. Both Assembly Member Nolan and CM Van Bramer’s office relayed your concerns this morning to me. I cannot express how upsetting this is to the library. We are so very excited about this new library in your community and you are absolutely right that the new fence wrap was a small but important signal of progress. It was also very beautifully designed by our partners at the City Department of Design and Construction and very generously supported through the financial contribution of the Queens West Development Corporation. As you learned- this sort of wrapping is actually very expensive to have produced and the Queens West Development Corporation stepped up to make sure it could be completed to enhance the community. It is so discouraging that it has been destroyed. I spoke to both DDC and to QWCD today and everyone is equally upset. Funding is short but they are going to try to repair the several panels that were damaged and we will see what else can be done if needed. Diane Balleck from Assembly Member Nolan’s office already brought this to the 108^th precinct (thank you Diane) and they advised that as soon as a complaint is initiated at the precinct they can then work with your building and your neighbors buildings to secure footage and identify whomever did this terrible thing. I spoke to QWDC and they will file a complaint with PD tomorrow. If we can nail whomever did this the whole community would be grateful. Please feel free to share this update with your neighbors as well.

Thank you so much for sharing your concerns – let’s stay in touch.

Jennifer Manley, Vice President, Government & Community Affairs, Queens Library

Here, let me repeat the most important part:

If we can nail whomever did this the whole community would be grateful.

Agreed. So if you anyone saw anything, please contact the police with the info.