Since we're in Bushwick...

This is the look of the "new and improved" Bushwick. It almost makes one nostalgic for the old Bushwick. H/T to Brownstoner.

De Blasio may seek retail vacancy tax

From Curbed:

Mayor Bill de Blasio has been largely noncommittal on speaking about how the city can combat some of the blight that’s sweeping New York’s retail corridors, but that may soon change.

On his Friday spot on WNYC, the mayor alluded that retail vacancy has been on the brain (h/t NY Post). “I am very interested in fighting for a vacancy fee or a vacancy tax that would penalize landlords who leave their storefronts vacant for long periods of time in neighborhoods because they are looking for some top-dollar rent but they blight neighborhoods by doing it,” he said. “That is something we could get done through Albany.”

The mayor’s office said the initiative is in the planning phase.

AirBnB couple on the hook for big fine

From The Real Deal:

A pair of illegal hotel operators need to pay the city $1 million as part of its crackdown on converting housing units into hotels.

The Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement received the $1 million judgment against Mina Guirguis and Szilvia Patkos, who used services like Airbnb to market at least seven units in 5 West 31st Street and 59 Fifth Avenue, according to Politico. They operated as City Oases LLC and marketed the units as “Urban Oasis” and “the Contempo Design Suites.”

The city sued them in 2014 and previously received a $1 million settlement in November with property owners Majid and Hamid Kermanshah. However, the Kermanshah’s ultimately will only need to pay the city $201,500.

Don't trust this real estate brokerage!

From PIX11:

Jaclin Osan admits she’s been too trusting.

She responded to an ad on apartments.com and liked a place in Queens. A guy she knew as Jason showed it to her. His real name is actually Joe Chyla. He was associated with a real estate brokerage called Incmobilia. Being so trusting, Jaclin gave Jason a $1,900 deposit. Cash.

But soon afterwards, Jaclin says Jason told her the landlord wanted a year’s rent up front. She decided she wanted her deposit back. Jason/Joe told her Incmobilia had the money. And Incmobilia gave her a run around. She says a woman named Michelle Wiser told her Jason didn’t work for Incmobilia.

So, she got in touch with the head of the company. But it was more run around.

Another hotel planned for LIC

From LIC Post:

Permits have been filed for a 116-room hotel in Long Island City.

The new hotel would rise to 16 stories, or 179 feet, at 38-59 11th St. The site, currently vacant land, is two blocks from the Queensboro Bridge.

The plans call for a hotel spanning over 54,000 square feet, with eight rooms each from floors two through 14. The remaining two floors will hold six rooms.

The hotel will also come with a breakfast area, a business center, a fitness and laundry room, and 31 enclosed parking spaces.

And we all know how successful hotels in this area have been.

Bid riggers busted

From the Daily News:

Two men were charged with a bid-rigging scheme to fix construction prices at a luxe Brooklyn development, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Thursday.

Christopher Chierchio and Anthony Molohnic were arrested and charged with colluding to avoid competition on bids for plumbing, sprinkler, and heating and air conditioning at the new luxury condo building on Baltic Street.

Chierchio — a reputed Genovese mafia soldier — was also charged with tax fraud for evading $94,094 in personal income taxes since April 2016, and could face up to 19 years in prison, according to the attorney general’s office.

Penn Station redevelopment sets off de Blasio-Cuomo feud

From PIX11:

In the shadows of Madison Square Garden, a storied boxing mecca, there's a political brawl between New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio going on over the future of the Penn Station.

It's now entering "the championship rounds" after plans leaked of Governor Cuomo’s proposed re-envisioning of the neighborhood surrounding Penn. The plans did not appear to include input from his de Blasio or other local and community officials.

Happy April Fools Day Easter from Queens Crap!

Fugazy on Forest Avenue

Forest Avenue in Ridgewood has seen some dramatic changes recently, but there still are a lot of smaller homes along the way. This stretch is pretty modest.

Unfortunately, there is crap underway.

3 STORY DWELLING FOR TWO FAMILY WITH ONE OPEN OFF-STREET PARKING SPACE, BATHROOM IN CELLAR SHALL BE USED SOLELY IN CONNECTION WITH THE DWELLING UNIT ABOVE.

Why would you convert a 2-story, 2-family building into a 3-story, 2-family building? And how is that thing jutting up from the top not a 4th story?

Red brick rowhouse horror in Elmhurst

At one time, Judge Street had a cute row of red brick homes along it. But what real estate mavens and politicians call "progress" happened to it. The hedges have been torn out and replaced with cars. One home, at 43-22, experienced a fire in 2014 that it still hasn't recovered from. In recent months, the owner has taken advantage of the lax zoning and has applied for a "vertical enlargement" which means further crappification of a once lovely streetscape. This month, a stop work order was put into effect.

Corona gentrification project in the works

From the Real Deal:

Developer Ai Yun Chen is planning to bring a mixed-use building to Corona that will feature 90 residential units and span just under 174,000 square feet.

The building would be located at 37-20 114th Street and be split between about 92,000 square feet of commercial space, 81,000 square feet of residential space and 600 square feet of community space. The project, designed by Angelo Ng and Anthony Ng Architects, would stand eight stories and 70 feet tall.

Here comes the Sunnyside Railyards "study"

From Crains:

The city has tapped a team led by architect Vishaan Chakrabarti to develop a master plan for the 180-acre train yard in Queens that Mayor Bill de Blasio imagines being decked over with parks and tens of thousands of apartments, several sources told Crain’s.

Sunnyside Yard, the canyon of tracks between Long Island City and Sunnyside, has long been eyed as a development site of epic proportions. In February of last year, the de Blasio administration released a study showing that it would be possible to construct a deck over 85% of the pit to support some combination of commercial, retail, cultural and residential buildings and open space. In one scenario outlined in the document, that translated to 24,000 apartments and a price tag of $19 billion, a cost on par with The Related Cos.’ Hudson Yards project on Manhattan’s West Side.

Chakrabarti’s firm, PAU, declined to comment, and the city’s Economic Development Corp. said that it has not officially designated a team. However, several sources with knowledge of the process told Crain’s that PAU has won a request for proposals that the city issued in November.

That means the firm will likely be tasked with building on the city’s preliminary work and drawing up a more specific development scheme, which will also account for required infrastructure and schools, a process officials have estimated will take up to two years. Because of the time needed to hash out a proposal and the daunting logistics of building a deck and columns over an active rail yard, the biggest decisions about acting on the master plan will come after de Blasio’s term ends in 2021. However, the administration has argued that coming up with a set of blueprints now is crucial to ensure that Amtrak, which owns most of the yard, can take the city’s aims into consideration as it upgrades its own facilities.

Feds are on the MTA's case

From the NY Times:

The astronomical costs of building the Second Avenue subway and other New York public transit projects are now the subject of a federal inquiry.

The Government Accountability Office said on Wednesday that it was preparing to launch a study of why transit construction is so much more expensive in the United States than in other parts of the world. Special attention is expected to be paid to New York City, where recent projects have cost far more than anticipated.

Auditors plan to examine contracting policies, station design, project routing, regulatory barriers and other elements that drive cost, comparing practices in different cities in the United States and abroad, officials said. A final report with recommendations is to be issued by the end of the year.

The study was part of the spending bill that was approved by Congress last week. And it comes three months after an investigation by The New York Times revealed how city and state public officials had stood by as a small group of politically connected labor unions, construction companies and consulting firms drove up transit construction costs and amassed large profits.

Rockaway firehouse and police precinct up for landmarking

From the Times Ledger:

Two buildings in Far Rockaway were up for consideration as preserved landmarks last week in Manhattan.

The first was Firehouse and Engine Companies 264 and 328/Hook and Ladder 134, located at 16-15 Central Ave., according to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The second facility up for designation was the 101st Precinct Police Station — formerly the 53rd Precinct — located at 16-12 Mott Ave., which is five minutes away from the firehouse, according to LPC.

The Renaissance Revival-styled firehouse, affectionately called “The Big House” by locals, was built from 1911 to 1913 by architectural firm Hoppin & Koen.

Prominent architects Frances Hoppin and Terrence Koen designed the three-structure firehouse with limestone at the ground floor, three segmental-arched vehicle bays, red brick cladding on the upper stories, a cast stone entablature and a brick parapet, according to LPC.

The precinct is a combination of the Renaissance and Colonial Revival styles and was designed by the Police Department’s Superintendent of Buildings Thomas O’Brien, said LPC. It was built from 1927 to 1928.

Steinway Mansion owners purchase adjoining property

From George the Atheist:

The owners of the Steinway Mansion, 18-33 41st Street (Block/Lot 802/31), Salvatore Lucchese and Phillip Loria, were deeded less than three weeks ago - February 28 - possession of 2 parcels of adjoining land immediately south of the Mansion on 41st Street: 18-39 (Block/Lot 802/27) and 18-41 (Block/Lot 802/29).

The two addresses belonged to the late Armin Urban who passed away last year. The deeds to the properties were conveyed to Lucchese and Loria (aka1839 Lucc LLC and 1839 Lor LLC) 18 days ago by Urban's heirs.

Question for Queens: How will this recently acquired property be used:
1. For a Steinway Mansion expanded parking facility?
2. For new development of commercial and/or residential units?
3. For park-like recreation?
4. To lie fallow for possible sale in the future?

Queens is king of tuberculosis

From AMNY:

The number of new tuberculosis cases recorded in New York City jumped by 10 percent last year, the largest increase in 25 years, according to a new report released on Monday.

City officials expressed concern over the health department report detailing 613 new cases in 2017, which is up from 556 recorded in 2016. The number of new multidrug-resistant TB cases also grew in 2017, from 11 to 14.

“New York City has been a leader in TB control, and we need to address this increase in cases,” said Dr. Joseph Burzynski, assistant commissioner for the health department’s Bureau of TB Control. “It will require a coordinated public health response, coupled with the city’s robust health care infrastructure, to make progress in the effort to eliminate tuberculosis as a threat in New York City.”

This is the first time that the city has seen an increase in new TB cases since 2003, according to the report.

Burzynski said TB was found in almost every New York City neighborhood last year, with Sunset Park, western Queens and Flushing having the highest rates of cases. The borough of Queens had the highest rate of cases — 10.6 per 100,000 people. The citywide rate of TB was 7.5 cases per 100,000 people.

Peninsula Hospital to become 1,900 "affordable" apartments

From Curbed:

The former Peninsula Hospital site in the Rockaways will be transformed into a massive residential complex, with nearly all of the apartments slated to be affordable units, Politico first reported.

The news follows two years after the development firm Arker Companies teamed up with Northeast Brooklyn Housing Development Corporation to purchase the development site for $19 million.

Plans for the project were revealed through an application filed with the city—the development will be required to go through a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). The developers are hoping to build 2,200 new apartments, about 1,900 of which will be affordable; new open space, a gym, a medical facility, and over 151,000 square feet of retail all spread out over 17 buildings. Of the total units 270 would be reserved for seniors.

Union Turnpike medians need some work

From CBS 2:

A deteriorating median running down the middle of one of the busiest streets in Queens is in need of recovery, and residents say they’re getting concerned.

Community Activist Louis LaPolla says the four and a half mile stretch of Union Turnpike, with lifeless trees and crumbling curbs, has been that way for nearly six years.

CBS2 requested an on-camera interview with the parks department, but it would only say that since it’s not a safety issue it’s at the bottom of the priority list.

Borderline crap sits undone

The St. Nicholas church-to-crap conversion is taking a while.

Everything at this corner is currently an eyesore.

Once again, all this for a supposed 3-family house.

Ridgewood's "crap above" has progressed

The crap above featured in our August 2017 post appears to be just about done. Talk about out of character!