Astoria, Queens

Modern Spaces, the Long Island City-based residential brokerage with two offices in that neighborhood, will also open an Astoria office, according to a statement from the company. The 900-square foot office, at 29-20 23rd Avenue, should open by Jan. 15.

Eric Benaim, president and CEO of Modern Spaces, said his firm still has some condominium listings at Edge 31, an Astoria complex at 23-32 31st Drive where Modern Spaces is the exclusive sales and marketing agent, and that the company has “several projects in the pipeline.” He added that developers will likely have their eye on Astoria soon and that Modern Spaces wants to be established in the neighborhood when new development arrives. [more]

From left: Bridge Side and Hoyt South apartmentsSomething of an oddity will rise in western Astoria this fall, when Giannola Realty breaks ground on an 11-story rental building, the New York Times reported. Up until a recent change to zoning laws designed to encourage development, the maximum building height in the neighborhood at the foot of the Robert F. Kennedy bridge was six stories.

The 34-unit building, named Hoyt Plaza, is expected to open in about two years with prices similar to Giannola’s two other Astoria buildings. The firm also developed Bridge Side seven years ago, a 27-unit building with rents ranging from $1,500 per month for a studio to $2,200 a month for two-bedrooms, and the two-year-old, 19-unit Hoyt South, which is priced from $1,800 for a studio to $3,500 for two-bedroom penthouses. [more]

The Steinway Mansion in Astoria

The Steinway Mansion in Queens is back on the market for nearly $ 3.5 million after a two-week hiatus, the Queens Chronicle reported. Sotheby’s International Realty has taken over Prudential Douglas Elliman’s effort to sell the landmarked home at 18-33 41st St. in Astoria. But historical experts still the hope the home, associated with the well-known piano company Steinway & Sons, can be made available to the public. The company is within walking distance of the house, but its gross profits in 2010 were a fraction of the house’s listing price. Because the home is landmarked, it cannot be torn down. Various historical societies have lobbied the city to buy the house in order to showcase its historic value to New Yorkers. [more]

Mayor Bloomberg

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden are celebrating the City Council’s approval of a rezoning plan for Astoria, Queens. The plan, which covers approximately 240 blocks in the neighborhood, will allow for an increase in residential and commercial density in some areas, which supporters say will increase the number of opportunities to build affordable housing. The area is boarded by 20th Avenue and Broadway, and Vernon Boulevard and the East River. The previous zoning was outdated and did not allow for adequate development, Bloomberg said. “The rezoning of Astoria… [provides] opportunities for mixed-income housing and new job growth,” Bloomberg said. TRD

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Concessions lead to flare-ups between agents and renters

One might think that months of free rent and scarce broker’s fees — hallmarks of the current marketplace — would ease the notoriously fraught relationship between renters and real estate agents.

On the contrary, the ever-changing array of incentives is leading to confusion for renters and fueling flare-ups with brokers, experts say.

“It can be very confusing for clients, because landlords will change these offerings on a moment’s notice,” said Bruno Ricciotti, a principal at Bond New York Real Estate.

When an incentive changes unexpectedly, renters often think they are being scammed.

“Unfortunately, clients always think that brokers are deceptive,” said Marc Lewis, the president of Century 21 New York Metro, who has recently seen several disputes between clients and agents arising from misunderstandings about incentives. [more]

There is no place like New York City for national and international retailers and a few such food and coffee chains are seizing opportunities to set up shop in the New York metropolitan area.

Texas Buffalo chicken wing franchise Wingstop, which has sold nearly two billion wings, plans to open its first New York restaurant in the spring of 2010, in Astoria or Forest Hills, Queens. The company seeks to open a minimum of 25 locations in the five boroughs as well as restaurants in Fort Lee, Newark, New Brunswick and Trenton, NJ. The 15-year-old company, which has more than 600 restaurants existing or under development in 32 states, has more than 70 restaurants planned for the Northeast. [more]

From left: the Free Synagogue of Flushing, the Astoria Center of Israel, and the Rego Park Jewish Center

Three Queens synagogues on the national and state registers of historic places will be ceremoniously inducted this morning at the Queens Borough Hall. The three sites, which were placed on the registers earlier this year, Rego Park Jewish Center, Astoria Center of Israel and the Free Synagogue of Flushing, were inducted based on their historical, architectural and cultural significance, according to a press release from the New York Landmarks Conservancy and the Preservation League of New York State. All three synagogues were built in the first half of the 20th century, with the oldest, Astoria Center of Israel, built in 1925-26. Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, who plans to attend the ceremony today, said in a written statement that preserving the synagogues is essential to the neighborhoods. “They are distinctive living memorials that now have a new chapter written into their history,” Marshall said. “The listing of these synagogues on the national and state registers of historic places is proof of their enduring value through generations and helps ensure their future on our borough’s landscape.” TRD

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Steven Schnall, founder of QuonticBank

Steven Schnall thinks that 1,000 community banks will close in the next year.

Even so, he’s confident the one he’s starting won’t.

Schnall, a mortgage finance expert who founded New York Mortgage Trust, has redesigned the erstwhile Golden First Bank in Great Neck under the name QuonticBank, with initial capitalization of $12 million to $13 million — half of which came out of his own pocket.

Despite his bleak community bank market outlook, Schnall said that smart lending will help his enterprise eschew failure. He said his background in mortgage financing was a key motivator in his decision to launch Quontic (“ontic” coming from the Greek word “ovtoc,” meaning factual existence, and “qu” being the prefix for the word “quality,” according to a Schnall spokesperson).

“The reason these banks are failing — in almost all cases — [is] bad loans,” Schnall said. “Our philosophy is, ‘we’re here to lend, but you have to be credit-worthy and you have to have skin in the game.’” [more]

September marked the opening of the public school system in New York City, which included 23 new school buildings with more than 13,000 seats. The new construction, along with 18 new school buildings opened last year, brought the most ever new school classroom seats online in a two-year period since the School Construction Authority was created in 1988. For the decade ending in 2012, the Department of Education is on track to construct more than 110,000 new school seats across the city, with more than 82,000 seats already completed — 28,323 in Queens, 19,394 in Brooklyn, 19,268 in the Bronx, 9,434 in Manhattan and 5,619 in Staten Island. [more]

Architect Charles Gwathmey, who founded Gwathmey Siegel & Associates with Robert Siegel, died yesterday in Manhattan. Gwathmey was 71 and died of esophageal cancer, his stepson, Eric Steel, said. Projects completed by his firm included the International Center of Photography in Midtown, the Northgate apartment complex on Roosevelt Island, the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Hoboken’s W Hotel and an addition to the Guggenheim Musuem. Gwathmey himself designed houses for a number of celebrities, such as Steven Spielberg and Jerry Seinfeld.