Curbed features interesting Kew Gardens house

From Curbed:

This enormous (we're talking 10,000 square feet of space) Queens abode looks like something you'd find in the middle of the country, not Kew Gardens: It's situated atop a hill, with a set of stone stairs leading up to a rather lovely and spacious wraparound porch.

The interiors of the house itself are a bit dated, which may explain why the home has gotten a price chop recently. It was originally listed last February for nearly $1.6 million, but as of this week, it's down to a $1.499 million asking price.

Here's what $1.5 million gets you: seven bedrooms (including one with a colorful mural painted on the wall, should you want that kind of thing); a gut-renovated kitchen (with, inexplicably, a ceiling-mounted TV); a wet bar in the basement; and, per the listing, a "backyard as big as a private park." And hey, it's a lot cheaper than you'd get for the same space in Manhattan or Brooklyn.

I love it! But that headboard has got to go.

LIC couple set free by building management

From the NY Post:

A luxury Queens building that blocked portions of palatial balconies belonging to some rent-stabilized tenants — so that high-paying, tiny-terraced residents didn’t develop a case of porch envy — has finally removed the partitions.

On April 21, the steel partitions were finally removed — but tenants had to agree to a litany of provisions, including: no drinking, not using their patios as storage space, no hanging of signs or flags, no kids without adult supervision, no barbecues and no bird feeders.

A spokesman for the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development said management, tenants and a window-washing company hammered out a plan that maintained the “safety of tenants without impeding window washing.”

The building started off as a failed condo project, resuscitated thanks to $7.6 million in subsidies and $28 million in construction loans from the city. In return, 108 of the units are income restricted or rent-stabilized — as low as $1,103 for a studio.

Quaker Meeting House update

"Issues still exist, but building behind graveyard is going up. A very old maple tree had to be removed after damage to porch." - The Flushing Phantom

Close call for Flushing's Quaker Meeting House

Big old Norway Maple branch hits Old Quaker Meeting House's porch...lucky...looks like no significant damage.

- The Flushing Phantom