It's great that the people of LIC marked their noteworthy structures with plaques so that the demolition guys can learn the history of the neighborhood as they tear it down.
The Star Building, which was home to the LIC Daily Star newspaper and is steps from Queens Plaza, is a-comin' down.
And guess what's replacing it? Yes, that's right. Luxury condos like the ones in this cheesy drawing. Is this Queens or the Vegas Strip?The site has already been shut down once. The developer has submitted a plan for 180 units to further overburden our infrastructure, but so far DOB hasn't approved the plan.
First 2 photos from Forgotten-NY.
34 comments:
Looks like it would make a great complimenty facility to Riker's island. Luxury on Queens Plaza?
Will someone please provide the definition of luxury in Queens for me please?
That building looks like an ugly dump. I would much rather have the new condo building.
You think the new condo building is beautiful? Strange taste these newbies have.
Luxury in Queens: Any new building that a developer decides to market as luxurious.
That old building provided jobs. The new building will provide power failures and yuppies. Just what we need more of!
Queens Plaza: ugly as sin.
Train trestle: ugly as sin.
Garage across the street: ugly as sin.
This new condo will fit in perfectly.
Do you think the brochures for this place will mention that the bus to Rikers stops steps outside the door?
How about Cityscapes? Now there's a neighborhood amenity for the newcomers.
Hey not fair. Fine dining at Blimpie's on the corner. Gentleman's club upstairs. Participate in street combat or watch live exotic acts on side streets. Not your standard dullness when you get home. Lively and exiciting times - learn to adopt your very own PO if you can find one.
I guess that Charlie's sons wanted to cash out !
are you gonna blame john liu for this one too?
That "architectural" rendering
looks like a hotel on the Vegas "Strip"
or along Miami's Collins avenue !
That ironic vertical sign
proclaiming the Star's heritage on the new building
is the final slap in the face of history.
I'll bet some enterprising "junkies"
grab that old plaque.....pronto.....
what with bronze going for over $2 a pound.
Anonymous #4 (we really need singular screen names on QC!) has got it right: a "luxury" building is now as generic as a "gourmet" deli.
All morons and player haters. Are you jealous that Long Island City is being developed and you are not part of it? I would if I were you.
How exactly is this building better than what's there? It looks like it has green space only accessible to tenants, and 30-foot garage walls that tower over pedestrians.
The words down the side of the building gotta go.
C'mon people, why are you getting so upset about another dumpy building going down in LIC? Don't you know this area has no history, no people with roots, no culture?
We need more generic, shoddily manufactured luxury buildings going up in this area! LIC has been long overdue for a facelift! And it looks like it's getting one from the suregons that advertise in the back of the Post.
I am a young professional that could afford to live in a luxury condo in LIC if I wanted to, but I prefer to live where I grew up, further inland. I am not jealous of the people moving into LIC. I would just like to have 1) power in my house, 2) room to breathe, 3) a sense of community, 4) a seat for my child in school and 5) no water in my basement. And when the tides rise, I will be on dry ground, thanks.
The Daily Star was one of the most influential newspapers, and the facade is handsome, along with its simplistic cornice and Greek columns and pediment adorning the entryway. This is not just another ordinary building. If it was in Dumbo or Greenwich Village, it might be landmarked already. The Landmarks Commission is a biased agency, particularly when it comes to Queens. Examine their track record of properties that are voted down without a hearing in our borough, and heard & landmarked in Manhattan or Brooklyn. Who's submitting the Request For Evaluation? And why can't the developer convert it into lofts (or build around it), as was done with the Eagle Electric factory???
The replacement is hideous, and very suitable for King Tut!
All morons and player haters. Are you jealous that Long Island City is being developed and you are not part of it? I would if I were you.
Good for you - join or get other fools to be together in these properties. You and the fools will get a good finacial education in how to be taken. The Crips and Bloods will surely provide you with other lessons.
khahar koseh Are you jealous that Long Island City is being developed and you are not part of it? I would if I were you
Khahar - can you explain why I would be jealous of LIC being developed and not part of it? Help me understand your point of view!
There is no point in submitting requests for evaluation. They get shot down time and time again.
There isn't one group out here that doesn't have a pile moldering in some dusty drawer.
This is Queens. The landmarks law does not reach here at the grass roots.
If the community did submit a requst, the newspapers would never do a story about it.
Last year when our elected officials and community boards and local newspapers let them tear down the first boro hall, no one mentioned that the community had submitted a request ... and ... true to form in Queens, it was denied.
This year the LI Saving Bank got torn down and of course the press was all over the community for not going through the motions,
The now have no reason to complain.
Yes yes of course. Its the COMMUNITY'S fault the building is torn down for, if they would have at least SUBMITTED something, .. and ... who knows?
Yea, how about submitting something to the tooth fairy.
You know who is buying here? Foreigners overseas whose money is worth 10 times ours, who are buying it and renting it out in the hopes that they may flip it soon. Even if the economy bottoms out, it won't be so much of a loss for them. We are selling out the history and character of our communities for a quick buck. Our kids will grow up and ask us why the hell we allowed this to happen.
I might be inclined to be envious
of wanting to live a truly luxurious life style....
perhaps in a spacious Gramercy Park condo
(with gate key privileges ) .
I'm certainly not jealous of aspiring
to living a life of existence
in a crumby, hastily/shoddily built
ersatz luxury dormitory in LIC....
"kenna-hurra" (spelled phonetically) !
The sub-prime mortgage collapse
is beginning to reach its zenith!
It is now affecting Europe.
In fact, it's being felt all the way to China!
How long do you think that "foreigners"
will be buying up NYC real estate......
or even building......
particularly in the outer boroughs ?
There's already a slump in their purchasing patterns.
Go and check out the figures for yourself.
A lot of foreign investors
are beginning to try to sell off
some of the parcels they already own.
(For example.....to name just two Israeli firms:
Boymelgreen in Flushing and Danrich in Maspeth).
We'll be seeing a lot of unoccupied
(certainly under-occupied) buildings
on the eastern shores of the river bank soon.
Maybe they'll save the doorway/portico/pediment
and plaque....heh, heh, heh !
Well.....on second thought....somebody ought to.
The old building looks perfectly fine and waaaaaaay more solidly built than the new piece of crap they want to put in.
If they MUST put condos there, why don't they just convert the interior of the building and leave the exterior as I heard they do in Europe where they don't have a habit of destroying old buildings (except during war time!).
(For example.....to name just two
Boymelgreen in Flushing and Danrich in Maspeth).
We'll be seeing a lot of unoccupied
(certainly under-occupied) buildings
on the eastern shores of the river bank soon
This is one wise voice - read above again please folks:
Developers cannot raise money to develop the next building and will not if the current property being marketed is not selling. The y need to pay interest costs, risk their current capital which is riding on a sell-out. When they reach the point of selling their land to pay for their current costs, they are seeing "the end is here (not near) " and go bust.
There are many big buildings in LIC bunched together, in various stages of completion in a market that has large completed buildings with apartments going begging. The point here folks - the game is over - those who bought in the last year are going to have great difficulty selling your unit in the next 10 years. In fact you will see a 50% in value especially at the most expensive levels. Be real, you paid a huge price to live in a crap building in Queens!
Adaptive reuse and exterior restoration is the way to go!
C'mon people, why are you getting so upset about another dumpy building going down in LIC? Don't you know this area has no history, no people with roots, no culture?
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Sir, you are an asshole.
The historic nature of this community is being destroyed piece by piece.
And the nasty thing is the locals are bought off by promises for developers.
We know who you are.
And you are going to get crap from those empty promises.
Well, if there is no public education from the preservation community, the developers (and their handmaidens in politics) will take full advantage of people.
Which means there is more of the pie for the old guard preservation community.
As planned....
What a shame!
The community's heritage held hostage as a developer's gimmick.
What a god damn shame.
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