We won't be seeing this for awhile......now that the builders have gotten into the dirt, they've discovered that the bedrock was not where they expected it to be. Is there something toxic in there? Nobody will say. So when will we get this handsome new neighborhood? “We really can't give a target date at this point,” says Silvercup spokesperson Cara Marino Gentile. Adds Rogers spokesperson Paul Stelmaszczyk, “We are not currently working on any adjustments to the design.” That’s the sound of a project stalling out.
Developer’s Dreams Deferred in Long Island City
The best part of the rendering is the tarp on the Queensborough Bridge. I certainly hope that wouldn't still be there by the projected completion date...
Photo from New York Magazine
28 comments:
This proposal is reminiscent of gigantic matchsticks or smokestacks... whatever you wish to call them. The bottom line is it's hideous, detracts from the ingenuity of the Queensboro Bridge, and I can only hope it never gets built.
Solution: Modify the design to assimilate with the bridge, and erect something lower in scale with community involvement. The developers wil gain credibility for a change. Thoughts?
Maybe the sub-prime debacle
has pulled the $$$$$ bedrock out from under
Mr. Suna.
That's as toxic a situation as you can get !
And just maybe those wannabee Manhattan hipsters
aren't as eager to spend mucho dinero
to move into ersatz luxury barracks in Queens.
I guess its back to the TV & motion picture
production business to earn "a living", eh Stuart ?
Regards to the wife, Vicki Match Suna,
a former LPC commissioner
who did nothing for Queens during her tenure.
That’s the sound of a project stalling out
Bedrock issues and toxic dirt never stopped a project in recent boom years here. All of LIC is toxic underground. It's the toxic products on Wall St. that affects the financing - money dryed up from that source, the economy affected by the same toxic products and the layoffs occurring in the lower rungs of Wall street - the very folks who would have bought here.
Another factor is that there are too many units about to go online or currently going begging in the LIC market. The products are crap & overpriced in an area with too few basic amenities.
Bedrock issues and toxic dirt talk is the smoke and mirror talk for the smart money pulling the plug on a project that has missed the bounty timing of the real estate market.
Put in a park just like Manhattan
Put in a park just like Manhattan
Put in a park just like Manhattan
Put in a park just like Manhattan
Put in a park just like Manhattan!
You guys are fools. I suppose the con-ed plant belching out pollution is a better alternative. Stay on this website bitching about any progress, but nothing will change. Bet the average age of the commenter so far is 60+ You are the dinosaurs. Progress will continue with out without out.
This is not the Con Ed plant. That is being sold to FedEx. Now who's the fool?
Scratch that, it is also a Con Ed site, but a temporary power plant that they are looking to unload. So if not Silvercup, it will be someone else, hopefully who is more sensitive to the Terra Cotta Building and the Queensboro Bridge, both of which are landmarked. No worries about progress.
More like "Tinker Toys".....
anonymous #1.
I suppose the con-ed plant belching out pollution is a better alternative
---------
Why are you hacks so stupid? You think everyone in Astoria is from the old country and believe every bit of crap you feed us?
How about a park, nitwit?
By the way this "temporary power plant" has been temporary for over 5 years. It was orignally suppose to be in for one summer to help with additional summer demand, but we were duped. The neighborhood has been fighting it for years now. Where do you live Crapper? When you get involved in what is happening in our community, then I will listen to what you have to say about what should go on in LIC. This development would have removed a blight on our neighborhood, preserved the terra cotta building and would have brough a ton of television and media jobs to LIC. We should all hope that it goes forward eventually. Hope you get what you wish for, because the next guy might not be so nice and decide to buldoze the entire site and put up condos instead.
Obviously, since there was a major blackout in 2006 due to rampant overdevelopment, this temporary power plant could not be dismantled, nor should it be until adequate increases in power capacity are supplied. The next developer can't bulldoze the entire site, because the Terra Cotta Building is a NYC landmark. Maybe you should get your facts straight next time before you type stupidity.
Keyspan sold a parcel of open space to NYC for $1 and we will soon have a 6-acre public park in Elmhurst. How much open space were the Sunas offering? Doesn't look like there is much land in the drawing not taken up by a building.
And Bob do tell. Where do you live? I suggest we put up one of these "temporary" power plants near your home to help with demand since you care so deeply about it. Then lets see how you feel then.
These plants have been there since 2001, and were promised to be removed in 2004 so this has nothing to do with blackouts in 2006. The New York Power Authority railroaded this proposal through the application process and failed to conduct even a cursory environmental study. This was all done because the authority officials say they have met legal requirements and must move quickly, or the city would face a dire shortage of electricity in the summer of 2001.
The generators were to be in place for at least two or three years, until private energy companies, taking advantage of the deregulation of the state's power industry, begun to supply electricity from new or rebuilt plants around the city. Fast forward to 2008 and those suckers are still there.
Instead of having such a knee jerk reaction to any development please try to understand the issues before spouting off.
This project would been a mixed use development that would include new film and television production studios, a public waterfront esplanade, cultural, and retail space in addition to residential. Except for the landmarked Terra Cotta building and a the power plant, the site is currently vacant.
"These plants have been there since 2001, and were promised to be removed in 2004 so this has nothing to do with blackouts in 2006."
This has everything to do with the blackout in 2006. How much worse would it have been if this powerplant was not there?
"The New York Power Authority railroaded this proposal through the application process and failed to conduct even a cursory environmental study. This was all done because the authority officials say they have met legal requirements and must move quickly, or the city would face a dire shortage of electricity in the summer of 2001."
This sounds like what happens with big development projects. Replace the word electricity with affordable housing.
"Except for the landmarked Terra Cotta building and a the power plant, the site is currently vacant."
Then it sounds like the perfect spot for a power plant. No one lives next to it.
Or across the street from it, Crappy. In fact, I believe that entire strip of Vernon is currently zoned for manufacturing, with a residential spotzone for the Silvercup project. Now there's smart urban planning.
Crapper this is the height of hypocracy. I'm glad you have exposed yourself to the world as a fraud and someone who only gives a crap about his little section of Queens - that is if you even live in Queens.
First a bit of education for you since you are so-pro power plant.
The greatest air quality health risks in Queens are due to a couple of major types of pollutants: fine soot, smog, or ground-level ozone, hazardous air pollutants, and greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. These pollutants subject Queens residents to serious health risks. Queens has a 48 percent rate of deaths from heart disease, seven percent higher than the city as a whole and nine percent higher than the rest of New York state. The hospitalization rate for children with asthma in Queens increased by 57 percent in the last decade -a rate three times higher than the state average. Studies have shown links between high levels of ozone and fine particulate matter and greater prevalence of asthma. These elevated rates show that there are large numbers of people in Queens who are likely to be susceptible to the effects of air pollution because of pre-existing cardiovascular and respiratory problems. In the northwest corner of Queens there are currently four large power plants, which together house 46 electric generation units, as well as a number of smaller units. Several other power plants have been approved for construction.
Western Queens provides more than **60 percent** of the electric power to the entire city of NY, and polluted air is the natural result of this. Air quality in Queens is among the worst in the nation.
I'm not opposed to providing New York City with the power that it needs. I just don't want Long Island City to be the dumping ground for those generating plants. Why aren't these plants being put up in other parts of the city making all areas share the burden?
Again if you are so interested in power plants why don't you voluteer your neighborhood for one of them and contribute to the cause.
We were wrestling with these issues in 2000 well before your snarky website came along and when it was en vouge to talk about power needs. Yet I am deemed to be too "new" to the area to have an opinion.
Again I ask you to go on record. Where do you and Bob live that you are so willing to throw LIC under the bus so that you can run your all five of your air conditioners while you are not home this summer?
And to bring this back to the Silvercup project, the world is not black and white. Sometimes you accept something less than perfect since it is a means to an end. We do not live in a world of sunshine and lolipops. Having said that I still think this project would be a fantastic win for LIC and the cummunity as a whole.
Since you clearly do not care about LIC and what goes on here I trust you will stay out of it and let us mangage our affairs as we see fit.
Just for the record I have been censured again. My post was within the requirement of this blog, and presented information that every Queens resident should know, however since I fail to present a conforming opinion it was not posted. If this blog is to share opinion why do you refuse to publish disenting opinions? Please post my prior comment.
Hey asshole, why not wait a few minutes so Crappy can have time to post your stupid ranting?
"I'm not opposed to providing New York City with the power that it needs. I just don't want Long Island City to be the dumping ground for those generating plants. Why aren't these plants being put up in other parts of the city making all areas share the burden?"
Good question. Have you asked your elected officials?
"Again if you are so interested in power plants why don't you voluteer your neighborhood for one of them and contribute to the cause."
I see two huge smokestacks outside my window. They are approximately 4, maybe 5 blocks away. I also live near the LIE with all of its wonderful pollution.
"We were wrestling with these issues in 2000 well before your snarky website came along and when it was en vouge to talk about power needs. Yet I am deemed to be too "new" to the area to have an opinion."
Did you contact your elected officials?
"Again I ask you to go on record. Where do you and Bob live that you are so willing to throw LIC under the bus so that you can run your all five of your air conditioners while you are not home this summer?"
I live right next door in Maspeth, which has been a bigger dumping ground for pollutants than LIC over the years. And I don't even have an air conditioner.
Oh and one more thing. I didn't censure your comment. You just need to allow me time to get to it.
I love how the small temporary power plant is bad, but the huge one across the street from the projects is ok.
Move to a neighborhood that already has 3 power plants and then whine that there are too many power plants. Why not move to a neighborhood that has none?
Did I contact my elected officals? Yes, I was also very active in CHOKE, or Coalition Helping Organize a [K]leaner Environment - the group that was fighting this. Were you involved?
NYPA plopped two of these plants down on the waterfront, on some of the ripest land for redevelopment in the city, on land that is finally catching on as a site for parks and housing. With views of Manhattan, easy subway access it offered a chance to create something extraordinary. The two generators kill all that. Imagine this plant in Battery Park City Jersey City or Central Park.
Point is I don't see why someone from Maspeth or any other area should be dictating what is good for LIC. Especially when they don't have all the facts.
Instead of prematurely dancing on the grave of this project why not take a minute to understand the needs of the community instead of having a knee jerk reaction to all development. Why must all of Queens conform to your visions?
Live in a neighborhood that is desirable and atracts development and then whine that there is too many developments. Why not move to a neighborhood that has none?
Anonymous said...
Live in a neighborhood that is desirable and atracts development and then whine that there is too many developments. Why not move to a neighborhood that has none?
Because there are none. Queens is being strip mined.
Why must all of Queens conform to your visions?
When did I say all of Queens had to conform to my visions? Are we not free to debate in this country, or has Bloomberg squelched that as well?
Yes, I was also very active in CHOKE, or Coalition Helping Organize a [K]leaner Environment - the group that was fighting this. Were you involved?
No, actually, but this guy was:
"As Pro Bono Counsel to C.H.O.K.E. (Coalition Helping Organize a Kleaner Environment), Vallone led the fight against the proliferation of power plants and represented C.H.O.K.E. and Astoria residents in Queens County Supreme Court, winning a major victory against the New York Power Authority."
He's a council member now. Write to him.
I firmly believe that the power plants should be located not in neighborhoods established for decades, but in those that are going to overburden the current infrastructure. Therefore, LIC is right where they should be.
I'd trust someone who grew up in a neighboring town to decide what's best for my area than some government urban planner from Manhattan.
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