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CRABHOUSE RESTAURANT IN LONG ISLAND CITY READY TO RE-OPEN

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Gotta get some crabs!
Keep on crabbing!

According to a commenter on LICtalk, the Crabhouse on Borden Avenue will hold a soft opening this Saturday.  Through back channels, we didn’t get a denial of the rumor, which is enough for our less-than-esteemed publication to run with.  From the look of the picture above, snapped today, it appears they’ve dropped the ‘Waterfront’ from the title and will call it the Crabhouse Restaurant.  While they’re also maintaining the ‘Established’ date as 1976, the interior has undergone a complete renovation, and my guess is the menu has as well under its new management by Skinny of Skinny’s Cantina.  Thus the only question that remains is, can you get soft-shell crabs at the soft opening?

//Bagels & Ice Cream – while we’re on the subject of local eateries, [Read more…] about CRABHOUSE RESTAURANT IN LONG ISLAND CITY READY TO RE-OPEN

BOUTIQUE HOTEL AND STEAKHOUSE COMING TO THE HEART OF HUNTERS POINT

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Long Island City's Delano?
Long Island City’s Delano?

Word on the street is that there are plans to convert a long vacant building on 48th Avenue into a boutique hotel and steakhouse.  I have no idea who the developer and proprietor will be, so I have categorized this story as a rumor. I also have no idea on the timing, design, price points, etc.  In other words this is another mindless, vapid LICtalk story about a maybe.  But it’s also a welcome kernel coming during a short term LIC news vacuum. So I will let you the reader fantasize about, and embellish upon what this new project will be.  I for one, envision a massive presidential suite for assignations, a VIP room in the hotel lounge for me and Lenny Kravitz, and a beluga-stuffed, double-cut porterhouse generously topped with white truffles and washed down with a quart of Screaming Eagle.  Now that, is a great shabbos!

Long Island City’s Renaissance – big piece per the title, or you could have read LICtalk all year

Sandy Zuckerbrot, the Lion of LIC, on its Past and Future – see comment above

Hatching Creativity in LIC – a theater organization for children 5-16 years old; enable your child to be the next Laurence Olivier

Group Looks to Start Weekly Farmers Market in Hunters Point – follow-up on last weeks story

5th Street to Become One Way

New MoMA PS1 Project to Tackle Waterfront Design After Sandy

HEY PALO ALTO, BETTER WATCH YOUR BACK

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Au revoir industries of old?  Click on this pic for detail.

Fresh off the news that Publicis, the huge international advertising agency, is coming to LIC, we get the possibility that the city is looking to turn our little town into the next technology center.  The proposal, labeled the “Anable Basin Tech Incubator”, cites many of the facts that we already know about the neighborhood, as advantages of locating something like this here.  It certainly wouldn’t hurt to add a little of the State’s money to grease the wheels, but personally I think it is going to happen anyway.  As I have been highlighting in my posts the last few months, many small tech companies have already made the decision to locate here.  Though we are far from achieving critical mass, the momentum is there and so are so many of the things small tech companies are looking for including  being a mass transit hub, lots of nearby housing stock, an educated work force, and lots of relatively inexpensive office space.  By 2014 I predict Goldman Sachs will be opening up a satellite office in LIC.  Which leaves me with one final question about the tech explosion in Long Island City: Will it be more like Palo Alto or Bangalore?

Maybe we will share some of our good fortune with our neighbors across the creek in Greenpoint.  The New York Times had a big update on Sunday about all the building and gentrification going on in that neighborhood.  Basically they are charting a similar path to Long Island City’s.  What I couldn’t help but wonder is “Gee, the front page picture on the article looks remarkably like the one I posted on July 19th!”  I may have to give Arthur Sulzberger a call.  If Greenpoint is still in the throes of gentrification, Williamsburg has officially completed that stage and commenced full on disneyfication or maybe “meatpackingfication” is more like it, with the opening of the Wythe Hotel.  The yuppies of yesterday are the neo-hipsters of today, plus ca change…

But wait, sometimes things do go back to the way they were.  There are rumors of the Macy’s fireworks coming back to the East River!  Check out the last story and come to your own conclusion as to the probability.  Who knows, maybe the fireworks can be timed to signify the grand opening of the LIC incubation?

Proposed Tech Incubator In LIC – what happened to starting up in your garage?

Long Island City’s Tech Takeover – will it be feted with fireworks?

Who You Calling Gritty? – will I still be able to get kielbasa and pierogis?

All Roads Lead To Wythe Avenue – Wythe Avenue, Gansevoort Street, Collins Avenue…

Follow That Tourist – mentions some Queens tourist spots and concludes with an offer to stay at the Z Hotel in LIC for $1,000 a week plus breakfast

Newtown Creek: Past, Present, Future Workshop

New Ferry To LIC, Brooklyn Exceeds 1M Passenger Mark – can you imagine what the numbers would be if the LIC embarkation point wasn’t so remotely located?

LIC Ice Cream Shop Relies On Community – more on Malu

Macy’s May Bring Fourth Of July Fireworks Extravaganza Back To The East River – where they belong!

GIMME SHELTER …and maybe a little naan

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Clear skies or stormy weather ahead?  What bringeth Manhattan?

Oh, a storm is threat’ning
My very life today
If I don’t get some shelter
Oh yeah, I’m gonna fade away

The weather has been quite unsettled in LIC over the last ten days, and one could use that term to describe the financial markets too over the same period.  Nevertheless, as I have been reporting in my recent posts, none of it is having any deleterious effect on Manhattan real estate …yet.  Whether one rents their apartment or is looking to buy, there are not many bargains to be had despite what is happening in Greece, Spain, Italy etc., or maybe because of it.  The first article comes from today’s Wall Street Journal, and confirms the detail from my post of June 4th about foreigners of all stripes snapping up houses and condos as if they were t-shirts.  Next up comes a story about the eternal buy versus rent dilemma, and sides in the camp of the former based on today’s metrics.  Shifting away from real estate, we get a profile on the owner(s) of LIC Market, followed by three other LIC articles the last of which contains the obligatory Chuck Schumer appearance.  Finally, I will pass on a rumor for the culinary crowd: LIC is getting a new Indian restaurant on 21st Street, just south of 44th Drive.

Foreigners Snap Up Properties In the U.S. – my goodness, even Canadians are getting in on the act!

Manhattan Homes Best Deal For Buyers Since 2006 – uhh, I think the pic in the article is Queens not Manhattan!

Restorative Artist Rebuilds the Past in LIC – and while she’s at it opens a restaurant too

First Queens Tech Meet Up Draws More Than 150 to LIC – net-net: LIC is the next Palo Alto, get on board!

Community Board Takes Stance in Labor Dispute

Schumer: Queens is Great For Biking