Friday, May 18, 2007

QP garage to be replaced with office tower

Here's one Queens building we won't mind seeing demolished:

The drab concrete Queens Plaza Municipal Parking Garage takes up an entire block at 28-10 Bridge Plaza, but is expected to be razed to make way for an office tower.

...the city’s Economic Development Corp. confirms it intends to spend the $30 million on outfitting office space it will then give to an as-yet unnamed city agency, which will be the anchor tenant.


New Tower May Come, With Some City Funds

Lisa Deller, chairwoman of Community Board 2’s Land Use Committee, said everyone is looking forward to seeing the transformation of Queens Plaza, but there are concerns that the city’s spending priorities could be “somewhat misplaced.”

Hmmm...where will all the park-and-riders go, especially once congestion pricing is phased in? All the municipal lots are disappearing.

Photo from Forgotten-NY.com

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Built under the Manes administration.....this building is as ugly and brutal as the late Donald's face and deserves to RIP along with him!

Anonymous said...

Who is to say the city's newest idea is any stupider than the last?

A gigantic tower at that noisy traffic choked corner? With no nearby stores?

And are my taxes being used to make a developer wealthy?

A public investigation into that, please?

Steve T. said...

That parking garage is the ugliest building in Queens, maybe in the world.

georgetheatheist said...

"...where will all the park-and-riders go, especially once [sic] congestion pricing is phased in?"

Crapper, please avoid the Indicative "once" rather use the Conditional "if" - i.e. "IF congestion pricing is phased in."

[Former Citycouncilman Walter McCaffrey seems to be the Man of the Hour locking horns with Bloomy over that very issue.]

Queens Crapper said...

Just making a point that tearing down a garage near a transportation hub doesn't mesh with the mayor's plan.

Anonymous said...

At a meeting last year, I heard Helen Marshall say that the new building was planned to have more parking than this, but underground. I hope not; the last thing I want is more people driving through my neighborhood to park there.

George, you'll notice that while McCaffrey's protege Joe Conley is right behind him on congestion pricing, McCaffrey's successor, Eric Gioia, is not. That's because Gioia knows that congestion pricing is in the interests of the 90% of his constituents who don't drive to Manhattan.

McCaffrey is the Man of the Hour? When was that hour, back in the fifties? His fake-populist posturing is as sad and out of date as this building.

Queens Crapper said...

"Gioia knows that congestion pricing is in the interests of the 90% of his constituents who don't drive to Manhattan."

Just curious...How exactly does having more people pile onto already overcrowded subway cars and buses benefit the 90% of Gioia's constituents who don't drive to Manhattan? Ever try to get on the train at 23rd-Ely or Vernon-Jackson?

Anonymous said...

ever try to get on at those stops when just one train is a minute or two late, or better yet, taken out of service?

Anonymous said...

Funny you should mention that. I was thinking just this morning as I shoehorned my way onto an E train after letting 2 go by that what the subway could use is a big increase in ridership.

Anonymous said...

Bloomberg's plan includes a bus-only lane on the Queensborough Bridge and on Queens Boulevard, and a significant increase in buses to use them, all to be completed before congestion pricing is implemented.

grvsmth said...

This SubTalk thread from 2003 gives some ideas about increasing capacity on the #7 train. One idea is that running "B Division" trains, like from the R line, would allow 20% more people to ride.

http://talk.nycsubway.org/perl/read?subtalk=513306

Another interesting post is this one, which argues that the MTA could run several more trains an hour if they were better organized:

http://talk.nycsubway.org/perl/read?subtalk=516989

georgetheatheist said...

...from the DMI discussion:

ERIC: "The number 7, try taking that at 8:45AM...THE INFRASTRUCTURE IS MAXED OUT." [The Doorman admits it -my emphasis]

& they are still building in LIC! How the hell are all these people going to get on the subway? The MTA running one or more trains per hour? (R U serious?)

Instead of 1 million more "heads" by 2030, why not a policy reversal and aim for 1 million LESS.

Anonymous said...

George, 1 million less is also in my book. What does one think of deporting all the illegal immigrants? The rich build shoddy mcmansions that are out of character & the poor often cramp more aliens in illegal basement apts, causing hostile living situations for themselves and the community.

The attached Fedders crap is a whole lot worse than the Queens Plaza Garage complex. And yes, who's to say that Bloomberg's concept of an office tower will be any better? Will it look like Trump's solid black glass rectangular offce building, that cuts the view of the Empire State & Chrysler Building in half, when traveling across the Queensboro Bridge? Or will it look like the proposed Silver Cup West project, better known as the 2 glass daggers symbolic of smokestacks smack against the bridge? Next thing you know, Bloomberg will want to build the Tower of Babel in LIC!