Hey, guess what? According to the Pistilli Development Group, Astoria is a utopia where garbage doesn't stink and you'll never step in dog crap:
Pistilli RiverviewHere's an old article from the Queens Gazette about the complex:
Riverview Apartments To OpenHere are some select comments from the message board,
Astorians.com:
I saw 1 bedroom penthouse with 2 walk-in closets...big enough to be a small... bedroom... but because there are no windows, you can't really use it as such... perhaps an office. Whoever did the design put way too much emphasis on closet space and the living room area....I don't know why since there is a shared storage space in every floor. We say a layout of a two bedroom where the smaller of the two bedroom is probably not big enough to fit a twin bed...the same apartment has a huge living room...all they had to do was move the wall between the living room and the smaller bedroom to make the decent size bedroom...oh well. I do like the layout of some of the duplex loft. Oh and that loft with a bedroom that has a column in the middle of it...what an eyesore...the loft itself is ok...but passing on that bedroom as a bedroom is a stretch....I don't know maybe you can make it a kids bedroom and add a smaller loft space inside of it.
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can i just say I haven't stopped laughing for the last 10 mins looking at those floor plans and reading that write up about astoria....
oh Pistilli... good luck!
..."the salami is always fresh...". ROFL.
wow.
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OMG!
The neighborhood description is absolutely ridiculous!!
I need to say again, they really did a disastrous job on that building!
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i doubt they hired a PR person. This all sounds like classic pistilli.
ugh.
i have friends that have seen some of the units and say that in some of the kitchens you can't even open the fridge and stove at the same time due to space contraints.
its just sad that this is the state of new developments in astoria.
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This whole thing is a shame. The website is an embarrassment. It's a great location and was a terrific building with a lot of opportunities. The finishes are terrible. You can literrally punch a whole through the exterior with your fist and then peel off the stryofoam and fake stucco. (I am not recommending it ) I don't think the building is as ugly as some people do but it took crazy long and has cheap finishes. That would make me nervous to buy. And their inside sales force and now this website... It's all just very weird to me. All the new condos in LIC use either Corcoran or Elliman. Feelings about brokers aside, the use of a professional agency with a reputation for luxury units does matter. I'm sure there are a lot of people who find this more than a little odd - and walk away from the property. I! t's not like they're the Trumps. Who has heard of Pistilli outside of Astoria? I hope for the sake of the neighborhood that every unit sells and that nice people come into the neighborhood who enjoy the location and add some life to the immediate area. But the odds are not good. It may take as long to fill as it did to finish. And that means it will be 2010 before people live there! The Sterns building seems to have all the same issues.
People are laughing at you, Mr. Developer.
Photo from the Queens Gazette
From today's NY Post:
Jackson Heights is home to a group of people who are fed up with the way things are going in their neck of the woods:
Yes, the papers are still talking about the battle over the landmarking of Sunnyside:
Southwest corner of Main St. & Roosevelt Ave. the crossroads of downtown Flushing.
Inspiring....isn't it!
This next group is travelling further south on the same side (West) of Main St. as the first intersection photo that I sent.
The Flushing BID's slogan reads, "Welcome to Flushing a Destination of Choice". It should read ".....a Destination of Departure" or ".....a Destination of Little Choice"!
I really think that Flushing has become the prime example of what all future "ugliness" will follow!!!!!!
Another out of scale "beauty"......looks like the plane is about to hit it.
Also, an Asian version of Italian lions guarding another piece of prime crap in the backstreets of Flush-Town!
This morning the Landmarks Commission voted to calendar Sunnyside Gardens for a public hearing.
They also designated 3 more buildings in Greenwich Village. The first floor of the one shown appears to have been remodeled in a similar fashion as the Hackett Building's was yet this structure was somehow not considered to have been "altered beyond recognition."
Ah, the real estate-newspaper-bank-politician connection. Oh, almost forgot that the senior VP of public affairs from Con Ed will be there, too. This sounds like one big happy orgy.
Don't know if you guys heard the news, but her royal highness, Councilwoman Melinda Katz, held auditions at city hall to see who would become her court jester. Councilman Dennis Gallagher ran away with the honor after performing an original routine called "The Joke's on Our Constituents." 
89-10 158th Avenue:
This is in Howard Beach, as you probably guessed. It is way over the top in style as well as substance. The house is supersized and the decorative features take gaudiness to a new level. You should have no problem coming up with colorful adjectives to describe this one.
George didn't slip that letter in under the radar:
Michael Gianaris must be afraid that his constituents will blame him for the Con Ed fiasco when he is up for re-election.
The New York Observer reports that the mayor invited big time developers to breakfast and then hit them up for millions of dollars in donations to the WTC Memorial Foundation:
"Here's a brand new cylinder of Queens Crap on Station Road and 161st Street, the replacement for two 2-family houses. Once the Plywood Fence of Doom comes down, and the sport utility vehicles are ensconced on the concrete ramps currently being smoothed out, the buildings' residents will deal with the screeching brakes and horns of the Long Island Rail Road, which runs through the backyard. At least there'll be little terraces so they can soak up the fumes from the delivery trucks for the Milk Barn across the street." - K.W.
Forgotten NY today unveils a page about Richmond Hill, a town that has retained much of its original beautiful architecture:
The Daily News reports that some couple is living in a truck in Brooklyn because they don't want to pay Manhattan rent:
The upper east side is outraged that a brownstone will soon be replaced by a piece of Manhattan crap and that people who lived in the area for generations will not be the ones moving in:
"What do you do with a perfectly good driveway in Glendale, Queens? That's right, you squeeze a piece of Queens Crap into it. 71-37 70th street looks barely wide enough to accommodate a residence but it didn't stop the builder nor did it stop a neighbor on the same block from doing the same thing. Parking is already very difficult in this area, right off of busy Myrtle Avenue, but that is not stopping home owners from selling off their driveways, building 2 and 3 family homes and clogging the streets with double parked cars."
The meeting last Wednesday about the calendaring of the Sunnyside district boiled over:
"When you hear the word "Bayside," is this what you think of? This is at 212-14 & 212-16, 42nd Avenue. There were two 1-family homes here previously. Now there are four 3-family homes. We are building ourselves into oblivion!" - jen
The NY Post reports today that our new state comptroller, Tom DiNapoli, is predicting that NYC will not have a $1.4 billion surplus in Fiscal Year 2008, as Bloomie says. Rather we'll have a $3.1 billion surplus:
Northeastern Queens is hopping mad:
The LPC finally designated the former Sohmer Piano Factory in Astoria:
"Some Astoria outfit is building at 81-19 Caldwell Avenue, in Middle Village. This doozy fills up the end of an entire block from 81st Street to 82nd Street. There have been numerous violations and at least one stop work order. Naturally, this was a self-certified job.
Of course, using the old "doctor's office" loophole and the fact that the property fronts on two corners helped the developer get away with building this monstrosity.
A copy of the following letter was received by the Queens Gazette:
Not quiet on Coney Island
New $63M control tower to land at LaGuardia
Dear Crappy,
"94-03 to 94-07 108th Street, Ozone Park. Hurry, dream homes like these don't stay on the market too long! Previously, this was a commercial building fronting on Atlantic Avenue with a parking lot in the rear.
Here's what you get to see at street level while walking by - equipment that can easily be tampered with or vandalized.
They apparently recessed the middle structure to allow for parking in front of the garage. The developer leaves the graffiti there for neighbors to enjoy as well." - R.P.
