A penthouse at 4630 Center Boulevard

An all-cash deal for a penthouse at The View in Long Island City has broken the record for the highest price paid for a condominium in Queens, The Real Deal has learned.

The property, at 4630 Center Boulevard, sold for $3.1 million in a year-end close; it had been listed for $3.25 million by Silvette Julian of Nest Seekers International since July, records show. The record had been $3.04 million paid in 2008 for a unit at Long Island City’s Arris Lofts. An Australian native purchased the three-bedroom, four-bath home through Hong Kong-based Quafferdog Investments Limited. The seller was local businessman Tony Georgiton, records show.  [more]

From left: Eric Benaim of Modern Spaces, an interior and exterior rendering of Five27

Modern Spaces has been tapped to exclusively market the Five27 condominium in Long Island City, The Real Deal has learned. Sales at the four-story property, at 5-27 51st Avenue between Vernon Boulevard and 5th Street, are slated to launch in April. [more]

10 Court Square in Long Island City

Long Island City’s Court Square may be experiencing a residential boom, but the area still suffers from a lack of retail development, DNAinfo reported.

More than 3,500 residential units are set to rise in the area over the next five years, and housing prices have shot up by nearly 30 percent in the last three years. But the neighborhood, lacking basic residential amenities such as pharmacies, grocery stores and retail stores, still gives off an industrial vibe, those familiar with the area told DNAinfo.  ”In this particular neighborhood, past 10 o’clock, it’s sort of a dead zone,” said Hector Medina, who works in the high-rise office tower Court Square Place.  [more]

Jennifer Dorfmann, director of sales at Modern Spaces and L haus listing broker, and the L haus

Long Island City’s L Haus condominium is now sold out — a little more than a year after the Stahl Organization switched marketing teams, replacing Prudential Douglas Elliman with Modern Spaces, the developer announced today.  [more]

A climbing wall at Cliffs

Updated at 5:07 with comment from Cliffs owner Mike Wolfert: Long Island City is getting two new indoor gyms that will have tens of thousands of feet for climbers, according to the New York Daily News. Together, the huge gyms could turn LIC into a North American scaling mecca.

The Cliffs plans to open a 20,000-square-foot facility in May near the Court Square subway station — an area already experiencing a residential building boom – in a building with walls up to 60-feet high. Brooklyn Boulders is now in a former Daily News garage in Gowanus but is considering a move to the Queens neighborhood.  [more]