Saturday, May 26, 2007

Overdeveloping over breakfast

LIC Planned Over Scrambled Eggs

Every member of the panel agreed that for Long Island City to become a key development area, the neighborhood needed more parking and more retail stores.

So when will they build them?

LIC is a 'very hot market,' prez of boro biz group says

Ben McGrath, chief financial officer of Edward Minskoff Equities Inc., said the real estate company is in the process of developing a dormitory near Northern Boulevard in Long Island City to address the growing need for student housing in western Queens. "Students crowd out market rate apartments for working families," he said. "There is a significant deficit of student dormitory units in the five boroughs."

Wow, he's got it all figured out, doesn't he?

'Stars Are Aligned' For Long Island City Development

The question period also produced an inquiry about air pollution that nobody was prepared to answer, suggesting it could become a serious issue as the building boom proceeds. (The questioner asserted the air in the area is quite bad, and conducive to asthma and other respiratory ailments.)

Oops, maybe they don't have it all figured out.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The way the real estate market is climbing....we're going to be all living in dormitories some day!

But for now there are two kinds.....one type for day workers and a more livable type for students!

verdi said...

"LUNG" Island City will soon become LIC's new name if the rate of respiratory diseases keeps climbing with all of this out of control over development!

Anonymous said...

"Every member of the panel agreed that for Long Island City to become a key development area, the neighborhood needed more parking and more retail stores."

Oh, any locals on the panel? Or is this a text book example of what happens once the developers move in and the locals are made irrelevant (hello Dutch Kills, Old Astoria, anyone listening?)

Sort of reminds me of Paul Bremmer running Iraq. Anyone bother to ask what the 'dusky locals' want or need?

I never thought that I would see American citizens treated as a colony and taxpayers turning over their hard earned money to get screwed for someone else's benefit.

For shame, Queens! For shame!

Jenonymous said...

You know, I always feel like I'm 5 years and one job behind ever being able to own a place. When I first heard about the new stuff going up, I thought I could just sit tight in my rental near Ditmars Blvd and buy before my lease expired. Uh, NO. First of all, who the f**k is going to spend $860K for a large studio or 1 BR in Arris Lofts? Answer: Someone who already has enough money to live in Manhattan. Proof of this concept: The complete lack of normal services near Arris, Starlight Towers, and all the crap they're building behind the Pepsi Sign. High-density housing for the rather rich who have cars and can drive to the station or Costco. Eerily, it reminds me of the sudden gentrification of DUMBO, which I used to live near back in the day when you could still get a raw loft for $600/month if you could figure out how to install your own toilet. But I digress. Look for another urban land grab that benefits nobody in the 'hood except for one or two car services and a few takeouts.