Astoria condo conversion receives warm welcome

Units in a newly-converted condominium building in Astoria, Queens are such a hot commodity that buyers are appealing to the local Community Board to help them secure spots.

Sales at Astoria Lights, a former rental building at 24-75 38th Street, kicked off two weeks ago with more than 600 homeseekers vying for the twelve available units. Buyers made a total of 63 offers for properties ranging from one-bedrooms asking $199,000 to three bedrooms priced at just under $600,000.

People are so keen on scoring a spot at the property, which will eventually have 140 homes, when  the building conversion is completed, that they have contacted Community Board 1 pleading for help.

“I knew things were busy out there, but 600 people?” Lucille Hartmann, district manager for Community Board 1, told the New York Daily News. “That sounds like a heck of a lot.”

The barrage comes from Astoria’s asension as a hot neighborhood and the area’s limited condo and co-op options, the Daily News reported. Only 52 condominium and co-op units are currently on offer in Astoria, according to StreetEasy, and their prices have increased 12 percent in the first nine months of 2013, the data show. [NYDN] — Julie Strickland