Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Isabella's of Astoria demolished for Muslim school

From Brownstoner Queens:

A one-story mosque at 24-30 Steinway Street in Astoria has been demolished (or not quite demolished, it seems, as there are only alteration permits as opposed to new building permits on file) to make way for a five-story structure that will house a school in addition to religious facilities, according to DOB permits. Based on this DOB violation, it seems safe to surmise that the Al Iman Center (aka the Al Marwa Center) has been operating in one form or another since the mid-1990s.

Okay, Skippy, the mosque hasn't been demolished. Isabella's has been demolished.  You can see the rendering of the school in the window of this Google Maps shot:

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its funny how they talk about Astoria as being a hipster paradise with block after block of grim faced men in hookah lounges, a vibrant belly dancing subculture, bottle bars of Latin music or Euro techno-trash, and a diverse array of red-blue-yellow themed restaurants that extol the virtues of south of the border cuisine.

Upscale, no?

Just like the Village and Williamsburg, its 'competition.'

JYun said...

I used to live on 42nd St and 25th Ave. right down the block from the mosque. I haven't been back in the area in a year but I guess they finally got moving on their Muslim School. I wonder if it will choke up even more traffic on Steinway than there already is.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if it will choke up even more traffic on Steinway than there already is.

Who cares, just think of the photo ops for the tweeding politicians and the kids crossing the East River to go slumming the way they used to in Chinatown during the Gilded Age.

Anonymous said...

Maybe this school can radicalize a few students.

Anonymous said...

Hookahs and hookers!

Anonymous said...

LOL!
Towel head university.

Anonymous said...

Really? Why are Muslims even allowed to set up any kind of worship places anywhere in nyc after what their crappy people did to us? Another slap in the face to "real new Yorkers" and Americans! What else is new?