More Beer, Lusskin Leaving, Hero a Zero?

AFTER 8.5 years, Liz Lusskin is stepping down as head of the Long Island City Partnership. Her departure comes at the end of a period where LIC evolved from its emergence as an up-and-coming neighborhood to fully established on the national scene. A lot of this may have to do with Amazon HQ2, which she had a major role behind the scenes in attracting. Yet even without it’s coming, LIC is no longer a backwater from a commercial standpoint.1

Given my proclivity for predictions, I don’t expect the next 8.5 years to be as eventful. The hockey stick growth of the past will transition to plugging smaller holes and retrofitting. Just think, outside of the waterfront the Citibank building was a lone wolf tower back then. Now we have a skyline.

Similarly the addition of another brewery to make #7 in LIC is not quite as monumental as #3. Of course the skewering of a condo developer whose 22-story building in LIC is rumored to be riddled with defects is always a good story, especially when the take-down is written by The New York Times. And that’s the news this week, egg season is over and now it’s time for the beer to flow.

Lusskin Set To Depart LIC Partnership For Position At Empire State Development – fare thee well

Finback Brewery Opening Third Outpost In Base of Sven Tower – soon to be the new place to meet in Queens Plaza

They Expected Luxury, They Got Leaky Ceilings And Broken Elevators – and a gym that wouldn’t open

1. and she played a role in that too, but was one of quite a few, not to mention market forces [↩]