William Jordan of CBRE in front of 12-01 Jackson Avenue in Long Island City, where the Natural Frontier Market is opening soon.

From the January issue: New retail is trickling into Long Island City to catch up with the luxury condo and rental building boom of the last four years.
Tony restaurants and stores — from spas to gourmet food shops — are filling in among the waterfront properties and along Jackson Avenue and Vernon Boulevard.
Despite the struggles Long Island City has seen on the residential side of the market because of large amounts of new inventory, retail in the area has seen a growth spurt, even as it has been slowed somewhat by the recession.
The area still has one of the largest concentrations of industrial businesses in New York City, but now old lumberyards, electrical shops and food processors commingle with trendy cafés and boutiques.
“There was no retail market 10 years ago, because this area was warehouses,” noted William Jordan, a vice president at CB Richard Ellis’ outer-boroughs office.
The population growth has eclipsed other neighborhoods (the area added 3,640 units of housing between 2002 and 2008, according to the Long Island City BID). However, the neighborhood has been light on some basic retail services, said Robin Abrams, an executive vice president at Lansco Corp., which does work in Long Island City.
Now that seems to be changing. more