Tuesday, August 29, 2017

LIC: It's almost hot!

From DNA Info:

“There’s going to be a lot of new stuff happening in Long Island City,” noted Carole Bloom, of Bloomstone Group, which is marketing the 168-unit Watermark LIC, an energy-efficient, non-smoking building with a rooftop gym, a Zen-like garden and coffee bar lounge, among other amenities.

Around the corner from the building, a Starbucks is opening next to a Chipotle, and Watermark is getting some new retail in its space, too, she said.

“It’s soon to be vibrant,” she said, “but not too vibrant that you won’t want to come home to it, like other neighborhoods that get too touristy. It will remain residential and won’t be bogged down with tons of people.”


Haven't they been pretty much recycling the same article and quotes for the past 20 years? And who the hell gets excited about shitty chain stores opening in their neighborhood? You'll also note that "It's soon to be vibrant" but not diverse!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Omg.... I wish these liberals would go away already! There is no room in this city. We dont need anymore people!

JQ LLC said...

What's the necessity of a coffee hangout if there is a starbucks?

Not too vibrant? These idiots are tripping over themselves. It looks like vibrancy is becoming a hard sell and people getting sick of it.

That garden won't be so Zen when they have to go out of their tiny exorbitant rent apts. and have to commute.

Anonymous said...

Been through Jamaica lately? Holy crap! Huge apartments going up both sides of the LIRR. Who's going to live there, in the 'hood? I guess folks said the same about LIC 10 years ago.

(sarc) said...

I imagine that Ms. Carole Bloom Received outstanding honors from her marketing classes, and the Professor even took the time to tell her personality that she had special talents...

Joe Moretti said...

Anon stated:

Been through Jamaica lately? Holy crap! Huge apartments going up both sides of the LIRR. Who's going to live there, in the 'hood? I guess folks said the same about LIC 10 years ago.
--------------------

First off, no one ever said who would want to live in LIC, even 15 years ago, let alone 10 years. Second, LIC did not even have the same problems of crime, garbage, illegal conversions, gangs, homeless shelters, drug clinics, low-class people, etc that Jamaica to this day still has. Also considering that the majority of these apartments will be "affordable" or low-income as opposed to market rate, means the same crap will be living in Jamaica, just in nice buildings, so it is not like a better quality of people will move to Jamaica. There are over 26 homeless shelter in Jamaica and the schools there are awful, so again, not going to get the quality of people that the powers that be think. Jamaica also has a HUGE waste dump, Royal in the downtown area, which causes much pollution not only from the dump, but the 24/7 of huge waste trucks that go through the area. AND once you get out of the downtown area, you have the major crime ridden South Jamaica right behind it and York College. not too mention some of the other crappy neighborhoods around. Jamaica is already over crowded and wait till all these buildings are completed and the place gets even more crowed and the barely can contain it now infrastructure is taxed even more and the traffic, which is already a mess, becomes worse and the subways even more crowded.

AND lets not forgot all those damn hotels, which many will either turn into homeless shelters or hybrid half hotel/half homeless shelter like two downtown hotels have become, the Comfort Inn on 164th and the Ramada Inn on Hillside.

But back it LIC, it was much better 15 years ago, now it is just an overcrowded mess of glass towers in a flood zone.

georgetheatheist said...

I happened to be in a Starbucks on the Upper East Side this past weekend. No one talked to each other. All had their noses buried in some electronic contraption. The furthest thing from vibrancy. More like catatonia.

Anonymous said...

I wish the republicans would go away already. There's no room in this city. Houston looks good though.

When you deprive people of all stores, even a chain store looks good.

Anonymous said...

No secret the buildings going up are shoddy with water coming through the walls, parents whispering about kids strange ailments as rumor has it, and undergrads in urban planning calling it a case study in poor planning.

The kicker will be one one of the many apartments owned by 3rd world investors pulls a 'Flushing' on a building and fills a few choice apartments with extended families who will use the common rooms for 'family events' and fill the halls with the smells of Elmhurst.

Give it about a decade before the bloom starts to fade. Another Sandy or Harvey should complete the transformation back to what it once was.

Anonymous said...

Starbucks AND Chipotle! How authentic! Who gives a shit anymore...NYC is long gone...

Anonymous said...

jamaica won't turn around for at least a dozen years
especially with all the homeless shelters going up

M. Oron said...


The building is not making people come to the city. The population growth is driving the development.


>>Anonymous Anonymous said...
>>Omg.... I wish these liberals would go away already! There is no room in this city. We dont need anymore people!

Anonymous said...

>Around the corner from the building, a Starbucks is opening next to a Chipotle

Nothing says "the vibrancy of NYC" like Starbucks and Chipotle!

Hipsters don't like chain stores, so I assume their target tenants are yuppies?

Anonymous said...

Joe, I miss reading your updates on Clean Up Jamaica. I read an article on DNA Info today discussing the Jamaica development. It listed all the ongoing projects and I lost count of them really! Unfortunately, like Joe says, some of the buildings will be 100% affordable housing, others will have quite a large percentage of affordable and the amounts of hotels opening is staggering, and they're not like 5-6 story low rises, they are mostly high rises, one claims it will have a rooftop terrace with direct views of Rufus King Park- I had to laugh when I thought of Joes photos of the bums sleeping in that park. Oh, and the standard Starbucks and Chipotle are slated to open! Since when did Chipotle become the symbol of chic urban dining, I think it sucks! But yea, the Jamaica development is way scarier than LIC based on the sheer number of affordable housing and huge hotels in an area no one wants to be in, SAD!

Anonymous said...

>“There’s almost too much choice in super high-end,” said Saladino, who has been advising landlords against fancy renovations.

At least some people are starting to get it.

>A report from online real estate firm Ten-X predicted vacancy rates will surge from 3.8 percent to more than 11 percent by the end of next year, while real estate data firm Reis believes it will rise to about 6.1 percent, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Does that mean rents might finally, actually, start to go down?

Anonymous said...

Pile the hipsters on and let the vibrancy begin with Starbucks and Chipotle.
The both suck by the way.
Welcome to the New World Insanity!
But some scumbags are going to make a truckload of money.
Well done.

Anonymous said...

"Won't be bogged down with tons of people"?!?! What a joke. Does she not realize they're adding a ridiculous amount of residential and hotels? Who is she trying to fool?

Anonymous said...

Whoop Dee Doo a Starbucks and a Chipotle and Watermark no less - I need to move into that neighborhood !! Yipee ! (sarc)

Really !?! How freakin' stupid are you - do you think we give a rats a$$ about Starbucks etc. - and what about Mom n Pop stores, you know what I'm saying - giving opportunity for locals to open businesses and make a living ? Stop shoveling sh!t at us and on us. We're not into you're gold dipped poop log.

The only people making out on this deal and improving on their quality of life in this city are the construction companies, architects, attorneys, real estate brokers and public officials lining their pockets. As for the "common people" we're getting the royal douching as usual, and the ecco-system will suffer along with us. Hurray for destruction from construction. Jerks

Anonymous said...

Really !?! How freakin' stupid are you

(sarc) was being sarcastic..chill dude.