Thursday, June 12, 2008

Kaufman-Astoria to take over public street

Kaufman Astoria Studios, one of New York City’s three largest movie studios, is moving ahead with a major expansion plan, nine years after it was announced.

A Big New York City Movie Studio Is Getting Bigger

The studio, in the Astoria section of Queens, will break ground this fall on a $20 million building, with an 18,000-square-foot soundstage and 22,000 square feet of support space, on a plot of land diagonally across 36th Street from its current building, which is between 34th and 35th Avenues.

Eventually, the studio intends to shut off 36th Street and erect a gate to create a studio lot — a compound with indoor and outdoor sets — and to construct a tower that would combine a hotel and office space directly behind the new soundstage.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

and to construct a tower that would combine a hotel and office space directly behind the new soundstage.
Why does every goddamn development in this freakin city have to include hotel space? I swear they want to reduce every last neighborhood into a Manhattanized tourist trap.

Anonymous said...

It's OK with me .

I've always been a great fan of the Marx Brothers who've shot many a film there.

And I'd even go a step further.

Let their expert set builders build a mini-city to ring their current complex.

I'm sure they can build stronger, longer lasting, better looking structures than those piecemeal intrusions that foreign developers are throwing up all over Astoria
(ha,ha, ha)!

Anonymous said...

Astoria has already gone to the dogs.

Nothing can save it from becoming "Manhattan East"!

All the bemoaning and outrage
of the soon to be displaced will
amount to just a fart in the windstorm of destruction!

It's time to hold a burial service and move on!

Anonymous said...

Only the commenters on this blog would complain about this. You obviously have never wanted to live in New York City. Why don't you move somewhere quiet and boring already?

Anonymous said...

Only the commenters on this blog would complain about this. You obviously have never wanted to live in New York City. Why don't you move somewhere quiet and boring already?

-----------
Yea, Main Street, Roosevelt Ave, thats were I want to live - Exciting! Diverse! Vibrant!

Bullshit

Anonymous said...

Development in that community is starting to overwhelm its streets. The studio and museum have almost no relation to the community and show up to the community board as a proforma rubberstamp for anything they wanted to do.

Went to a memorable community board meeting a number of years ago - when one member respectfully asked the museum why they do fund raising in NY and not in Queens, they boldly said their supporters will not come to Queens.

'Ok', said the community board member quietly, and a few minutes later the community board rubberstamped the proposal.

Anonymous said...

CB1, the community board from hell!

Anonymous said...

Michael N. Gianaris, a Democratic state assemblyman from Queens, predicted the new development would be “an integral part of the continued success of Long Island City and Astoria. It’s an area of the city growing by leaps and bounds; many of us believe it will be the next big business district for the city



I am glad to see the blackout in your community has had an impact on your thinking, you nitwit.

Tell everyone the utilty is incompetent, then try to create a frekin business community in the area.

What the hell have you been smoken young man?

Anonymous said...

What gives Kaufman the right to take away a public street?

Anonymous said...

"You've got to know when to hold and know when to fold".

Lyrics from the song "The Gambler"(Kenny Rogers).

Good avice.

Maybe it's time to look to greener pastures and leafier environs.
It's only going to get a hell of a lot worse.

Unfortunately, time has moved on and the community has long been betrayed by so called "preservationists", "Don" Vallone Sr and family, Delis' CB#1 from hell, various sundry elected officials and assorted sharks!

Rest in peace.

Anonymous said...

18 stories? it will get built, and here is why:

1. the politicians are for it
2. the newspapers are for it
3. the community board is for it
4. there will be enough people in the community, the misinformed, those with agendas, that will go for it and whose comments will be solicited. those against it will be ignored giving the impression that they dont exist

Anonymous said...

I don't see 18 stories in that rendering, but then again, Suna's three tower 50 story waterfront grab got a picture about 1 inch sq in the Gazette.

Anonymous said...

Those morons at astorians.com are actually negative nodding anyone who is against this.

Who runs that site - developers or politicians?

It must be the only community site in favor of development. And their community shows it.

Anonymous said...

Folks, better go the next LICA meeting.

Check out their site www.licalliance.org for the next meeting.

Anonymous said...

Better watch out northeast Queens.

Paul Vallone was overheard saying at a recent civic meeting that in about a year (after he assumes he's grabbed Avella's seat) he'll be supporting landmarking that area.

You know what that means
(reading between his lines).

That nabe is really going to get reamed!

Anonymous said...

This is something I really know about being a former Actor and Musician.

This project wont do squat for Queens or LIC. All the people that work in those studios are:
1-"Father and son" Closed Union (not the boyscouts folks)
2- "clubhouse" whores --worse the the Bloomberg administration.

Your going to have semi truck's driving through the streets (Sets built in Mexico)

Most the set building, the scenic artists and their workspace have been kicked out of Manhatten or moved to Mexico.

For example the NBC building, Rockafeller Center and Radio City Music Hall.


Most of what was scenic artist space is now high rent $$$ office space.
The greedy bastards like General Electric (NBC) no longer want to pay for hotels for the Actors and production people who work 14 hours a day

Anonymous said...

Your going to have semi truck's driving through the streets (Sets built in Mexico)

Most the set building, the scenic artists and their workspace have been kicked out of Manhatten or moved to Mexico.
----------------------------------

Well, it is already an active studio, so there are already semi-trucks driving through the area.

And yes, many may have gotten kicked out of Manhattan, and some of those artists moved to places like Astoria and Brooklyn for cheaper rents. Isnt that the whole point of building this project? So more of these types of jobs stay in the city?

Anonymous said...

building this project? So more of these types of jobs stay in the city?
-----------

No, Its to bust the Unions but busting the Union "Houses"

Most scenic artists no longer have jobs unless they want to go non Union @ $15 Hr in Mexico or Kingston NY.

Producers shoot on the street or warehouses in Jersey now. All this "fake realiety" on TV has maded people stupid.

They fed viewers shit for so long they think "Surviver" all the other B Cast T&A, dancing, singing, voyer, humilation, and monkey shit contests are a meal.

---Like in Europe and Brazil. The neworks braught the inventers of that "cheap" crap here.

Now add all the old NTSC broadcast cameras available and hand them to a bunch of inturns working for Simon Fuller and presto !
Realiety Crap shot in some boiler room or whorehouse rental !!

Anonymous said...

Astoria has already become
a "turd world" nabe.

So what f-----g difference does this really make?

In a twisted kind of way, this might actually serve to improve the area.