Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Supertall tower development to be crammed onto street corner by elevated train tracks.


 
LIC Post


Long Island City could soon be home to yet another large tower, with a 45-story development planned in the heart of Court Square.

The proposed tower would rise at the southeast corner of 23rd Street and 45th Avenue, immediately adjacent to the elevated 7 line tracks and on the same block as the Court Square station entrance. The building would also rival the 50-story One Court Square across the street.

The tower, being developed by Tavros Capital Partners, would span around 308,500 square feet, and includes approximately 250 residential units. About one-fifth of the building would be made up of office space, with some space allotted for retail use.

The development, with a height of 524 feet, also has an L-shaped footprint that covers seven low-rise multi-family buildings currently on site. The addresses of the buildings, which will be torn down to make way for the project, extend from 23-10 to 23-16 45th Ave., and 45-03 to 45-09 23rd St.


Long Island City could soon be home to yet another large tower, with a 45-story development planned in the heart of Court Square.

The proposed tower would rise at the southeast corner of 23rd Street and 45th Avenue, immediately adjacent to the elevated 7 line tracks and on the same block as the Court Square station entrance. The building would also rival the 50-story One Court Square across the street.

The tower, being developed by Tavros Capital Partners, would span around 308,500 square feet, and includes approximately 250 residential units. About one-fifth of the building would be made up of office space, with some space allotted for retail use.

The development, with a height of 524 feet, also has an L-shaped footprint that covers seven low-rise multi-family buildings currently on site. The addresses of the buildings, which will be torn down to make way for the project, extend from 23-10 to 23-16 45th Ave., and 45-03 to 45-09 23rd St.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

no! no! no! this is what could kill LIC, not Amazon. Sharing the comments of a reader in reaction to a recent article that makes some thought provoking observations of LIC:

https://ny.curbed.com/2018/11/16/18097555/amazon-hq2-long-island-city-nyc-history

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With all of the development in Hunters Point and SW LIC, I can’t help but be reminded of my work experiences in Emeryville, CA. Directly across the bay from San Francisco, Emeryville exploded with tech development in the 90’s, but amid the office parks, strip malls and big box stores, quality-of-life things like schools, libraries, utilities/sewers, sizable parks and walkable boulevards were never added to the equation. And where such were actually added, they were token, inadequate gestures, at best. Without question, Emeryville’s perceived value was based on its proximity to San Francisco, and its build-out was mostly orchestrated on a developer-driven, site-by-site basis, with no grand scheme in mind.

Bear in mind, that as industrial-to-mixed-use conversion neighborhoods typically lack the amenities that have long-since been within "designed as" urban neighborhoods (e.g., Astoria, Jamaica Estates), city-envisioned amenities for areas like LIC are regularly set to a far lesser standard. The very lack of pre-existing boulevards, significant architecture districts, libraries/schools and public parks target districts like LIC as a "clean canvas" to developer’s eyes. And fast-track development timelines yield the "neighborhood" of glass boxes that now abuts Sunnyside Rail Yard – with more of same now promised to come.

For an unpleasant and very recent depiction of such, I suggest reviewing everything that is wrong with Boston’s Seaport District neighborhood. As a business center it is thriving, and the condo market is very strong. However, ever-increasing traffic density and lack of pedestrian perspective combine to make it unwelcoming to families (esp once children are beyond the training wheel age). And as Boston Seaport is rigidly restricted in building height due to its proximity to airport, LIC’s density, big box retail, lack of true parks (i.e., ballfields) or street-lining trees or low-density pedestrian-friendly boulevards will prove an enormous quality-of-life challenge.

Bottom line – LIC will similarly undergo massive growth, over the next 10+ yrs. It is already too late to include some quality-of-life amenities (e.g., off-street pedestrian/bike connectors from Gantry State Park to Sunnyside), and locals will not be able to turn off the development faucet. So they’d best focus on the things they can influence, including a grand scheme view of LIC 2030. Failure to do so will make LIC even more of the 5-yrs-and-out singles community than it has largely become. In other words: Emeryville 2.0

Anonymous said...

Where’s Jimmy and Gianaris??!!!

Why aren’t they protesting yet another tower? Why aren’t they protesting that there be REAL affordable housing in these new skyscrapers??!! Why aren’t they upset that another building is going up and LIC doesn’t have the infrastructure??

But they’re crying cause they weren’t a part of the Amazon Deal?? Oh but they took $$$ from real estate developers??! Enough with GREED from developers and politicians. Hunters point gentrification has been happening for way over a decade. When’s it gonna end??

georgetheatheist said...

Just 3 short years from today. An exclusive view of Long Island City HERE.

Only on Queens Crap!!!

Unknown said...

Um, when your land is limited, the only way left is up.

Anonymous said...

If the building complies with existing zoning bulk regulations, and is contained within the lot, how is it crammed?

Is the Empire State Building (which is technically now non-compliant with bulk regs) crammed?

Sounds like a building that fits in their footprint, but just happens to be very high. If it were only 3-4 stories, you would have substantially less housing created for an already strained housing market. I'm not understanding QC's concerns?

baron34 said...

Absolutely disgusting. The damage that has been done to this area where I lived for 15 years is outrageous and criminal to me. The developers have paid off the politicians to look the other way, while they cut the heart out of a great old neighborhood and make it Manhattan East, populated with nothing but hipsters and millenials. The local politicians who changed the zoning laws should be audited and investigated. Check their suddenly-inflated bank accounts.

JQ LLC said...

@ Anon 2

I was going by the renditions. That one picture with the train really stands out. That is going to put that station out of service and mess up an already over capacity and consistently delayed train line.

I think comparing this with the ESD is spurious.

And it's good and right that Gianaris should be targeted for this. And also GTA's apt link.

JQ LLC said...

oh, and Jimmmy V too.

Anonymous said...

Left Queens long ago, good luck with all that.

Zoë said...

Just 3 short years ?
I think now all we need is the sky ramps going tower to tower
Change for the worse, hell you cant even buy a regular breakfast consider this:

Toast, cereal or something fried – with a simple coffee or Orange juice used to be $3 when I worked in LIC. As in standard breakfasts that built New York City. Now since these assholes got hold of things its called “brunch” and involves bespoke granola, posh porridge, exotic berries, poached eggs “smashed” avocado on some sour bread variety. -and this crap will cost you over $11!
Since when did splatting slimy fruit on fermented half rotted dough with wheatgrass juice and other "mixologists" crap count as breakfast?

-Z

Liman said...

I'd love to know how much they offered the guy on the corner. It must have been a lot and he said no. He's my new hero.

JQ LLC said...

Thanks, miss Z for giving the "artisan" "creative" culture behind these new eateries a well deserved shit. It's the same with how they serve and charge for fucking hamburgers.

Miss Zoë said...

Than you JQ LLC its nice to be appreciated.
Yes, well deserved shit!
I figure when nature calls, just answer.