A thousand reasons to love Long Island City. Tips: Editor@LICtalk.com
New York City is looking at reviving prior development plans for the HQ2 site according to James Padgett the President of the Economic Development Corp (EDC) in [Read more…] about City Looks To Revive Prior Development Plans For HQ2 Site
I’m just trying to find the bridge
Has anybody seen the bridge?
Please
Have you seen the bridge?
I ain’t seen the bridge!
Where’s that confounded bridge?
THERE’S going to be a protest this Saturday. In general, the impetus behind it is to make sure the LIC community has a say in the development of three adjacent waterfront plots: Anable Basin, Waters Edge, and Lake Vernon. Of equal importance is the request to recognize and rezone these three lots as a whole, not in isolation. The belief is that in doing so it will not only optimize the space for the neighborhood but also for the city, inasmuch as it will allow more comprehensive planning and be able to incorporate much larger economies of scale and/or amortization of concessions. The most obvious example, and one near and dear to The Editor’s heart, is a rec center.1
The logic of creating a Master Plan for the three lots is self-evident, yet the powers-that-be have been completely dormant in recognizing the tremendous opportunity right in front of them. That’s what the protest is for!
Now, while the Rec Center is the most obvious oversight, and almost de rigeur when talking about concessions for variances or granting a rezoning, there’s another need that also lends itself to amortization, and frankly might be more timely than even, ahem …affordable housing. That would be [Read more…] about PROTEST -> MASTER PLAN -> BRIDGE
In the perfect world of The Editor there would be fewer humans taxing the earth’s resources and fewer still straining those of Queens and NYC. Regrettably someone else from this borough was recently elected monarch so I won’t be able to impose my will until 2020 and thus will be required to accept compromises, just like everyone else. That will entail watching large swaths of Long Island City towered up to the sky, much of which has already transpired.
Despite my anti-growth leanings, [Read more…] about MUSINGS ON GENTRIFICATION IN LIC AND DEVELOPING WATER’S EDGE
So, Cornell Technion opened up this week. While the opening entailed press releases, ribbon-cutting, politicians and media attention, it should come as no surprise as it was completed right on schedule. Of course that fact may actually be the biggest surprise of all!
Amidst the news hoopla, and there was a lot of it from all angles (see links below), was the standard local one as to how this would affect the local community adjacent to the campus: Long Island City. All interviewees laud the potential of the proximity to the new campus, and the hyperbole is justified. Unfortunately what they don’t realize is the huge gulf between “as the crow flies” and reality. While a new ferry is nice, it is far from a game-changer. The fact is that the [Read more…] about CORNELL TECHNION OPENS – HEY DON’T FORGET THE BRIDGE!
There will be no pedestrian bridge to Roosevelt Island, nor will there be a community center. TF Cornerstone was selected by NYC officials to develop the Water’s Edge site and their plan largely adheres to the bells and whistles in the RFP put out almost a year and a half ago by the city. In fact the only one who seems to be surprised that it will have a token industrial component is The New York Times reporter who broke the story. He obviously must not have bothered reading his colleague’s lengthy story from over a year ago which touted this novelty plan in the development site.
In fact the biggest thing that will differentiate the pair of towers on this plot from their brethren further south along the waterfront in LIC [Read more…] about TF CORNERSTONE NAMED DEVELOPER FOR WATER’S EDGE SITE