GANTRY PARK FLOODS AND 80-STORY TOWER IN COURT SQUARE?

The East River came over the edge at Gantry Park yesterday morning, creating a small pool on the promenade just north of the final pier, as pictured above.  Newsworthy?  Only inasmuch as it just kinda happened and probably shouldn’t.  I’ve never seen it before, despite my many years of gawking out at the waterfront and skyline.  According to a local bulletin board:

The NOAA water level gauges are online here: http://tidesonline.noaa.gov/ and show the charts of the water level as the tides come in and out.  Right now most of the ones in the tri-state area are showing a high-water level, which just means they are well above the ‘normal’ level for this point in the tidal cycle.

Unlike Sandy, this flooding came unannounced.  Definitely something to keep an eye on going forward, as the future gets closer.

//But don’t let that stop the developers.  Yesterday plans were filed to build a 79-story residential tower next to the Citibank building in Court Square. That would make it almost 50% higher than that building, and the tallest one in Queens.  As first reported in The Real Deal 1 it would contain 774 units and be what I call a ‘pinner,’  really thin and really high – sorta like 432 Park Avenue almost directly across the river.

Though one website calls the renderings/plan “banal,” my gut tells me “unlikely” is more like it.  The flood of building occurring in that area, both immediate and nearby, I believe will make financing very difficult.  Just today came news of both a $70 million loan to a 28-story project kitty corner to this one, and the announcement of an 11-story, 175-unit condo building just down the road.  Though neither comes as a surprise, it lends an immediacy to the frenzy.  Nor does this ‘pinner’ plan come as a shock, as the developer Chris Xu from Flushing, paid $143 million for the property this past summer.  At that price you gotta be go high, or at least your investors do.

Queens Developer Files for 79-Story Resi Tower – penthouses anyone?

This 79-Story Glass Tower of Banal is Ready to Dominate the Queens Skyline – banal

Adam America Files Plan for 11-Story Condo Building – Condos, 175 of them!  These guys know that there’s already too much rental coming on in the ‘hood

Twining Properties Lines Up $70 Mil for LIC Resi Development – 27 stories, 168 units, just east of Jackson Ave on 44th Drive

The Chain Theatre Says Goodbye For Now – as residential buildings come in, the arts depart.  Don’t need to be 79-stories high, could already see it from a mile away

A Fabulous Idea, Maybe, for a Waterfront Streetcar – similar arguments to mine regarding the economic feasibility

Four Generations Later, LIC Manufacturer Hasn’t Forgotten How to Start Up – always interesting to read about the prosaic biz’s laboring in LIC

This Dog Walker Probably Makes More Money Than You Do – could be the best looking dog walker in NYC.  Lives in HP and also provides some excellent tips for dog owners

An Old Fashioned Kind of Doctor – for anyone who’s walked by this doctor’s office next to Casa Enrique, and wondered about the handwritten signs and notes on the door.  Old school!

1. Journalism 101 – this is how you credit the source that broke the story.  Not all hacks in LIC have learned this yet, but it’s the industry standard.  The NY Times does it begrudgingly for the WSJ, The Post likewise for the Daily News, and vice versa.  Or you could just treat your readers like naifs and pretend that it’s an original story. [↩]