Queens Development

[Jaffster]

Yes that's it. On the parking lot of the supermarket.

[ajulius]

Yes that's it. On the parking lot of the supermarket.

First time in awhile there has been activity on this Forum regarding Forest Hills.

Anyone know the status on the Windsor 2 by where the supermarket is on Queens blvd? Was supposed to be started this year but I haven't seen any evidence of construction work and I saw on the building website, that they couldn't get permits to build. So I wonder if the project has been cancelled, postponed or is still slated to go.

If I had a choice, I would rather a new apartment near 71st + continental and/or 75th by the Pinnacle.

The other new buildings in Forest Hills are probably rental buildings in all probability. Forest Hills has has at least 1 modern shoddy cheap construction building with condos in town. When you look at the outside of the building and the inside, they cut corners through and through.

Other than Windsor 2 IF IT DOES GO UP, I really don't see any new space for buildings to go up on any significant scale in Forest Hills. Forest Hills will continue to have pre-war, post war and a few sporadic modern buildings scattered throughout.

[Newcomer]

I saw on the building website

which website would that be?
Thanks.

[ajulius]

which website would that be?
Thanks.

NYC Department of Buildings

[Strattonport]

Luxury Right Off Forest Park
Link to article


The Park Lane in Kew Gardens.
A new luxury condo in Kew Gardens is preparing to welcome its first residents.

The Park Lane, a brand new 59-unit tower, stands 18 stories and is the tallest building in a neighborhood of low-rise buildings, and offers extraordinary Manhattan views.

“We’re finding a strong response with people anxious to own a luxurious new condominium home in an established neighborhood with exceptional recreational facilities and easy access to Manhattan,” said Aroza Sanjana, President of Atlantic Realty Partners, marketing and sales agents for The Park Lane, which has been built by Denali Properties Group.

The Park Lane’s Grovesnor Lane location puts residents in the heart of one of Queens’ most exciting recreational and entertainment districts, where shopping and dining abound on almost every corner. The 538-acre Forest Park, less than two blocks away, offers extensive trails for running, biking, skating, and horseback riding, plus tennis courts and an 18-hole golf course, while close-by Forest Hills, only minutes away, boasts even more elegant shopping and fine restaurants.

The Park Lane offers one-, two- and two-and-a-half- bedroom homes, priced from $337, 000 to $745,000. The condo boasts an elegant lobby, outdoor rooftop courtyard and Residence Club with a state-of-the-art exercise facility and observatory. Other on-site amenities include concierge service, underground valet parking, two high-speed elevators, and laundry facilities.

Four home designs are available, with only four residences situated on each floor. Found among the layouts are large picture windows, balconies and terraces providing spectacular views, dramatic eight and half foot-high ceilings in the living room, dining room, and bedrooms; rich hardwood floors enhance the elegant feel of the home.

For more information on Park Lane, call (718) 683-3105 or visit www.theparklanetower.com.

[Strattonport]

Bell Boulevard streetscape scaled down
BY ZACHARY BRAZILLER

Thursday, September 7, 2006 3:32 PM CDT

Link to article

The Bayside Business Association's (BBA) original streetscape plan of giving Bell Boulevard a “small town feel,” to make it more “pedestrian friendly,” as president Judy Limpert described it, never got off the ground after Department of Transportation (DOT) and Department of Environmental (DEP) regulations made it far too pricey.

Nevertheless, the BBA has not given up on its dream just yet. Not after spending some $600,000 on permits, plans, and sketches of the design.

“We just have to move forward,” Limpert said. “This is what happens, you get stonewalled and people abandon projects. We don't want to do that. I want to see it completed, for Bayside to prosper and benefit from this project. And they will.”

The new project will include bluestone pavement, new street-lightings and street-poles, adding a park in front of the Bank of New York on 41st Avenue, and instituting new newspaper containers and tree plantings along Bell Boulevard in addition to whatever amenities store owners want in the area.

The 30-foot long park, to be named Padavan's Place after Senator Frank Padavan, who donated $1 million to the project two years ago (the BBA also received a $320,000 grant from Borough President Helen Marshall), will be a resting place with benches and trees along Bell Boulevard for residents and visitors to sit and relax. “A place where we can do tree lightings and maybe little shows,” is how Limpert envisioned it.
The original plan, which entailed much of the same framework but to a larger degree from 35th Avenue to Northern Boulevard, included adding bumpouts of curbs at intersections and in the middle of street blocks to shorten the distance for pedestrians to cross the street.

But when the plan was proposed to the DOT, they said the BBA had to pay to move traffic signals so they would be the identical distance from the street in case construction workers had to access them through the asphalt.

Furthermore, the DEP said they would need to pay for a new storm sewer system (one does not exist on Bell Boulevard) or connect the drains to a storm sewer many blocks away. Although no damage would be done to drainage in the area, catch basins that connect to a sanitary sewer would have to be moved to construct the bumpouts.

“It has been very frustrating,” Padavan said. “This project should've started a year ago. It's been delayed for one stupid reason after another. There isn't a penny of city money [involved]; it's all money from grants.”

Because of the decision to scale down the project, Limpert said they now only have money to complete Phase 1 - the area between 41st and 42nd Avenues alongside the Bayside Long Island Railroad station. The BBA, she said, will spend the next month finalizing the new plans, and then submitting their paperwork to the city Art Commission, who approved the original plan in the first place. Then they would return to the DOT and DEP before work can eventually start.

“I'm hoping by the spring we can get this done,” Limpert said. “At least break ground, so people can see something.”

[kurokevin]

Luxury Right Off Forest Park
Link to article


The Park Lane in Kew Gardens.
A new luxury condo in Kew Gardens is preparing to welcome its first residents.

The Park Lane, a brand new 59-unit tower, stands 18 stories and is the tallest building in a neighborhood of low-rise buildings, and offers extraordinary Manhattan views.

“We’re finding a strong response with people anxious to own a luxurious new condominium home in an established neighborhood with exceptional recreational facilities and easy access to Manhattan,” said Aroza Sanjana, President of Atlantic Realty Partners, marketing and sales agents for The Park Lane, which has been built by Denali Properties Group.

The Park Lane’s Grovesnor Lane location puts residents in the heart of one of Queens’ most exciting recreational and entertainment districts, where shopping and dining abound on almost every corner. The 538-acre Forest Park, less than two blocks away, offers extensive trails for running, biking, skating, and horseback riding, plus tennis courts and an 18-hole golf course, while close-by Forest Hills, only minutes away, boasts even more elegant shopping and fine restaurants.

The Park Lane offers one-, two- and two-and-a-half- bedroom homes, priced from $337, 000 to $745,000. The condo boasts an elegant lobby, outdoor rooftop courtyard and Residence Club with a state-of-the-art exercise facility and observatory. Other on-site amenities include concierge service, underground valet parking, two high-speed elevators, and laundry facilities.

Four home designs are available, with only four residences situated on each floor. Found among the layouts are large picture windows, balconies and terraces providing spectacular views, dramatic eight and half foot-high ceilings in the living room, dining room, and bedrooms; rich hardwood floors enhance the elegant feel of the home.

For more information on Park Lane, call (718) 683-3105 or visit www.theparklanetower.com.

Memories. This was directly next door to my first serious boyfriend in NYC when I moved here, Had not thought about the site in some time, but a flood of memories just came rushing back. Nice neighborhood. Very nice actually

[ajulius]

Memories. This was directly next door to my first serious boyfriend in NYC when I moved here, Had not thought about the site in some time, but a flood of memories just came rushing back. Nice neighborhood. Very nice actually

Kew Gardens always has been a nice area, and its also very religeous as well in many sections. Forest Hills is nicer because for me it is closer to the subway so the developments like Windsor, and the new Windsor 2 would be more desirable especially being by the 71st and continental subway station. A new article showed that Windsor 2 will start NEXT year instead if it goes up. Will be interesting to see what happens.

[Strattonport]

City presents rezoning plan in Flushing

BY ZACHARY BRAZILLER

Link to story

Thursday, September 21, 2006 2:39 PM CDT

The New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) met with concerned residents of South Flushing in a Town Hall Meeting setting to present their upcoming rezoning plan.

At the meeting held at New York Hospital Queens on Monday, September 18, the DCP would maintain the suburban neighborhoods' residential feel and restrict developers from developing multi-use dwellings and commercial property.

The communities of Queensboro Hill, zoned R4, and Cedar Grove, zoned R3-2, currently allow a range of housing types, such as detached single-family buildings, row houses, and multi-family dwellings. A few blocks in the Cedar Grove area are also zoned R2, which does not set limits on building height and exempts the first floor of each house from floor area calculations, which allows these homes to nearly double their floor area, resulting in considerably larger residences.

The new zoning will prevent multi-family and attached dwellings in areas of primarily one- and two-family homes; make sure commercial uses will be prevented from coming up on residential side streets by updating commercial overlays; and direct future housing development to through-streets that are served by public transportation. The zoning is expected to put in lower density homes that will match the character of the areas in question.

In the two-hour presentation, Queens Director of City Planning John Young laid out the provisions of the new plan, which they felt would maintain the neighborhood. The meeting, with residents representing several civic associations and Community Board 7 and Community Board 8, lacked the anger and aggression of past rezoning meetings.

A few residents did complain that the new zoning will affect their ability to sell in the future to developers, such as Mary Lamorgese, who resides on 158th Road in Queensboro Hill. “I feel I will lose money on the value of my house,” she said. “I have been in this area for 40 years. Johnny Come Lately made their money. It's my turn.”

But Joe Amoroso, a Kissena Park resident who sat through the meeting and saw similar rezoning in his neighborhood, advised those in attendance to approve the changes. “It was the best thing that ever happened to our neighborhood,” he said. “It's very stable. The people in our neighborhood are very happy with the rezoning. Don't let it pass you by.”

Near the end of the meeting, attorney Jean Wang objected to the rezoning. She said it would limit her clients who rent out units to low-income immigrants. “There are less units they can rent out,” she said. “If you're a current resident and you want to expand, you can't.”

Wang called the new zoning unconstitutional and discriminatory, wondering why certain areas in Queensboro Hill would remain R4 zoned while others are being altered.

[Strattonport]

For ‘Ultimate Insider,’ It’s Sunnyside Up
By Matthew Schuerman

Link to article


Lawyer Michael Bailkin stands to rake in trainloads if a Bloomberg plan to build above the Sunnyside rail yards comes to fruition. - Getty Images

A behind-the-scenes political insider could become the city’s next big development kingpin, if Mayor Michael Bloomberg pursues a plan to put a platform over the Sunnyside rail yards in Queens and open it up to developers.

Michael Bailkin, who is known as the best go-to guy if you’re a company looking for a tax break from the city, bought an option in February to get first dibs on about 43 acres of the rail yards closest to Long Island City.

That property has suddenly become much more valuable since the revelation in August of a confidential plan drawn up by architect Alex Garvin for Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, which envisions a new Battery Park City to be built on the site.

The option, purchased for an undisclosed price, means that Mr. Bailkin could hold such a plan hostage, leverage his stake for a cut of the action, or demand a high price to relinquish his rights should such a housing scheme come to pass.

A new neighborhood over the vast Sunnyside Yards, which is still actively used by railroads, is several steps—and years—away from fruition.

Mr. Bailkin’s option would kick in only after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority decided that it no longer needed the yards—and maybe not even then.

But Mr. Bailkin’s expertise lies in getting what he wants from government. He won $37 million worth of sales-tax exemptions and other incentives for Condé Nast and Reuters in the late 1990’s, in an effort to ensure that New York didn’t lose its title as media capital of the world to a place like Jersey City.

Four years ago, he won $26 million in tax incentives for Met Life to move to Long Island City, virtually next-door to the rail yards.

(Despite that effort, Met Life is now seriously considering moving back to midtown Manhattan without any tax incentives at all. So much for retention!)

“He is who you hire if you want a retention or development deal. He is kind of the ultimate insider,” one longtime New York City business figure said. “He has deep connections in city government that go way back.”

The option itself, according to transaction records filed with the city, permits Mr. Bailkin to buy an underlying option, held by a New Jersey property manager named Paul Marshall, on the Arch Street Yard on the southwestern triangle of the yards between 21st Street and Thomson Avenue, and Yard A, which runs in a thin strip on the north edge of the yards parallel to Jackson Avenue.

In an arrangement dating back to the days of the Penn Central Railroad, Mr. Marshall’s option applies only to the land and the first 22 feet of air rights, and he would have to buy the property at fair market value.

The city controls the air rights above that plane, but would likely need permission from below to drive supports for its platforms into the ground.

By controlling that narrow layer of land and air, Mr. Bailkin in essence controls any development above it—and the future possibilities of solving the city’s housing shortage.

“It’s a strategic position,” said Mr. Marshall, who bought the underlying option in 1987, when he was doing deals on what became the Queens West development nearby.

He said he did not know about Mr. Garvin’s report and the possibility of city-led development until told of it by The Observer.

“It is something that everyone has long thought of,” Mr. Marshall told The Observer. “It’s terrific. The city’s focus is always on Manhattan—that is every outer borough’s lament. There are things that you can’t do in Manhattan.”

Mr. Bailkin did not return telephone messages for comment.

An individual with knowledge of the transaction said, “There is no specific plan for the area. They are in a position to negotiate for the air rights.”

‘Let’s Deal With Bailkin’

Real-estate developers with legendary names like Lefrak and Zeckendorf have attempted to develop Sunnyside Yards before, with no luck. Mr. Bailkin may have more success if the city gets behind the effort, now that the residential market is booming.

“It is very complicated to say how this translates into real value,” said John Reinertsen, first vice president of CB Richard Ellis, a Long Island City real-estate broker who represented Mr. Marshall in the past. “There has got to be a directive to say, ‘We need to maximize the value of this thing. Let’s deal with Paul. Let’s deal with Bailkin.’”

A native of Philadelphia, Mr. Bailkin became an adventurer in his teen years, joining the Army before he was of age and later the circus before settling down to a bureaucrat’s life at a city economic-development agency.

Then one day, Donald Trump stopped by his office to ask for help in reviving the Commodore Hotel on East 42nd Street, now the Grand Hyatt. Mr. Bailkin fashioned a financial-aid package that helped institutionalize a whole way of doing business in New York City—real-estate tax breaks—that was just beginning to emerge.

Investigative reporter Wayne Barrett, in his biography Trump: The Deals and the Downfall, says that Mr. Bailkin “had already been chasing dreams for a lifetime” by that point. The night after the first approval, he sat on the steps of City Hall with his counterpart from the state, David Stadtmauer, the two men “savoring their triumph and sensing that the business incentive plan that had grown out of the Commodore deal might have also created an opportunity for them.”

The next day, Mr. Bailkin quit his job to set up a law firm dedicated to economic-development incentives, and Mr. Stadtmauer joined him a few months later. They have been in business together ever since.

The idea proposed by Mr. Garvin in his secret report was to build a platform above the train tracks, much like the one north of Grand Central Terminal or the one proposed for the Atlantic Yards project in central Brooklyn, on which high-rise towers with 18,700 to 35,300 apartments would be built. Mr. Bailkin’s position affects only one golf-club-shaped piece of the entire yards, although it would be developed first, according to Mr. Garvin, because it is closest to the city and four subway lines.

Mr. Doctoroff did not return messages placed through a spokeswoman and his office.

But the Sunnyside Yards plan is believed to be just part of the overall strategic plan that Mr. Doctoroff has been working on to ensure his boss’ legacy.

On Sept. 21, the Mayor formally announced the creation of the Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, which will oversee the creation of the strategic plan and be headed by Rohit Aggarwala, a former McKinsey consultant and Columbia University graduate whose dissertation focused on postcolonial New York City. No deadline for the plan was announced, though it is already several months overdue after being announced last January.

It is unclear whether Mr. Bailkin knew about Mr. Garvin’s report when he purchased the option, although drafts of the Garvin report had been going back and forth for months before it was finalized in June, according to one source. Mr. Bailkin had purchased a short-term option on the option before, when he was also trying to develop an office building at nearby Queens Plaza. That deal fell through four years ago, when Mr. Bailkin’s partner, the Louis Dreyfus Property Group, backed out after Sept. 11.

Joe Conley, the chairman of the local community board, said that the economics are still not there, and that diverting the focus from undeveloped Long Island City parcels that are ready to go would only hurt those efforts.

“This is unfortunately going to divert attention from the real issue, which is how are we going to get Long Island City developed,” Mr. Conley told The Observer. “Most people will sit back and be the dreamers, but once you put pen to paper and make these things work, they look very futuristic.”

[thomas5561]

Hi, Was just wondering if anyone could either give me an idea of what studio condos seem to be going for in Queens (I know this is contingent on the area, but even a rough idea would be fine) or a link to a page I might find useful. Thanks.

[Strattonport]

Possible Yard Project Would Transform Boro

By BRIAN M. RAFFERTY

Link

According to the Mayor’s office, a plan to build a deck over Sunnyside Yards and construct as many as 35,000 new residences “is still a few months away,” though a May 2006 report to the City Department of Economic Development calls the plan to develop the Yards “the greatest opportunity” to “dramatically improve the City of New York.”

The mayor’s office said that no decisions have been made on any specific project in the report, which was written by Alex Garvin and Associates. The report was commissioned to discuss the long-term challenges the city faces regarding development of housing, infrastructure and waterfronts.

The report recommends construction of the platform and that builders put between 18,000 and 35,000 housing units on the site, depending on the zoning. There would also be schools, parks land and an interposal transportation facility for the MTA, LIRR, Amtrak and bus service. The ripple effect would be staggering.

“A new neighborhood over the Sunnyside Yards would transform life for the surrounding neighborhoods,” the report reads. “Residents of Sunnyside could walk directly and safely to the shopping on Steinway Street in Astoria residents of long Island City could commute from and LIRR station within their neighborhood; and children from Astoria could play on new ball fields created over the Yards.”

In addition to the Sunnyside project, the report suggested building platforms over rail yards in Jamaica, Rego Park and Flushing, as well as above parts of both the Cross Island Parkway and the Clearview Expressway.

When word spread to Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan (D-Ridgewood) of the possibility that 43 of the more than 150 acres of the Sunnyside Yards may be a viable development option, she immediately reached out to Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, asking that community input be a crucial part of any discussion regarding the future of the property.

“I am extremely concerned by the recent press reports indicating studies and interest in our community by the administration that does not involve our community boards, local business and neighborhood groups, schools, elected officials and the entire civic infrastructure,” she wrote. “That approach cannot and will not be successful.”

The mayor’s office said Tuesday that there would be significant public review of the process, but it would be premature to hold meetings now.

The property, which is owned by Amtrak and is primarily used by New Jersey Transit, is enormous. It runs from Laurel Hill Avenue on the east to Hunters Point Avenue on the west. If it were in Manhattan, it would span 42nd to 59th Street, from Fifth Avenue to Lexington Avenue. According to an Amtrak spokesman, the rail company currently owns the air rights above the property.

Recently, the City negotiated with the MTA to purchase the air and development right over the Far West Side rail yards of Manhattan for an estimated $200 million plus money from developers.

News of the plan comes as no surprise to the area’s Councilman, Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside).

“I have long advocated that it be platformed and that housing schools and parks be built at the Sunnyside Yards,” he said this week.

Gioia, who has publicly advocated a plan to cover the yards and build since before taking office, said: “We need to make New York a place where we not only survive, but thrive… we need to protect existing affordable units, but we also need to be bold and come up with new plans.”

Gioia describes a plan to cover the Sunnyside Yards as the best middle-income housing opportunity in generations. “If you combine that with the waterfront and Queens and Northern Boulevard, we can create 20,000 middle income units.”

Gioia agrees with Nolan that public input is an absolute priority.

“First of all, we need to make sure that people who live in the neighborhood be consulted and brought in to this planning process early,” he said. “All too often you find plans that work in a board room but don’t look that good in practice.”
As far as expense goes, Gioia sees Manhattan as an example. “Park Avenue is a platform. By selling off the plots of land around it, it didn’t cost very much money.”

[Strattonport]

Plans to develop Sunnyside yards on track again

BY PETE DAVIS
Thursday, October 5, 2006 2:11 PM CDT
Link

Plans to develop the Sunnyside yards may be back on track again.

Published reports sprung up this week about the city's possible interest in plans to add a platform above the train tracks at the Sunnyside rail yards and develop a project similar to the one proposed for Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, potentially creating tens of thousands of new housing units for Queens.

According to published reports, development plans designed by the architecture firm Alex Garvin and Associates were given to Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Dan Doctoroff during the summer.

A representative for Alex Garvin and Associates said he could not comment on the story and referred calls to the city's economic development office.

The plans prepared by Alex Garvin and Associates said that developing the site could “create an entirely new neighborhood with tens of thousands of new apartments, knit together long-separated communities, eliminate the noise and blight of an exposed rail yard, and provide a transportation hub for anyone traveling to or from Queens and Long Island. This opportunity is so significant that it is worth pursuing now.”

However, this is not the first time plans to redevelop the areas have been discussed.

“I have seen plans that go back to the 1930's, and one day it will happen,” said Community Board 2 Chairman Joseph Conley. “But today is not the day.”

Conley said that there were too many economic questions for the area that still need to be answered, and he said that the distraction of talking about possible plans for the Sunnyside Yards takes away from the development plans currently underway in Long Island City and Hunters Point.

City Councilmember Eric Gioia, who represents the Sunnyside area and has been a proponent for developing the Sunnyside rail yards since he was elected to office five years ago, said that the potential for more than 30,000 additional apartments is enticing for the area.

“First, more needs to be done for the middle class,” Gioia said. “I speak to young families and long-time residents every day who are being pushed out of Queens and New York City altogether because they can't afford it anymore and that needs to stop.”

According to the report, the development would connect Sunnyside Yards with the neighborhoods of Astoria, Sunnyside, Woodside and Long Island City. It would be only one stop from either the east side or west side of Midtown Manhattan by subway or LIRR respectively; and it would embody the urban design principles that have made Rockefeller Center and Battery Park City so successful.

However, Gioia and Assemblymember Cathy Nolan both agreed that any plans the city is considering for the site needs to have more community input.

“That any development is being explored without community input is most regrettable,” Nolan wrote in a letter to Doctoroff. “Any development envisioned for the Yards, either with or without a deck, must involve a dialogue with the impacted neighborhoods.”

“I think it's very important that this not just be a plan that looks good in the board room, but the mayor come out to the neighborhood and discuss it with people like my family who know the area the best,” said Gioia, whose family has been living in the neighborhood for more than 100 years.

[antinimby]

and it would embody the urban design principles that have made Rockefeller Center and Battery Park City so successful.

Can't believe they still think BPC is a good model to follow. Basically, towers in the park formula, a modern equivalent to the housing projects. A mistake.

They're not going to be able to re-create Rockefeller Center in that area neither. Rockefeller Center works because it is in the middle of packed commercial district. It would be an empty, windswept plaza if placed in Queens. Dumb.

Amazing that in 2006, the people in charge of planning still don't comprehend these things.

You need building surrounded not by greenspace but by streets and sidewalks with retail on the streetlevel.

[lofter1]

Granted BPC doesn't have retail at streetlevel throughout, but it is anything but a "towers in the park" development -- the buildings throughout come right to the edge of the sidewalk.

Only Teardrop Park takes up what could be considered buildable space on the residential blocks. All other park spaces are at the edges: Rockefeller, Wagner & the esplanade along the River, the ball parks & the new south promenade along the West Side Hiway -- and then there are the street division "park"-like spaces at Rector & running down the spine of northern BPC.