2 Court Square, where CUNY Law will occupy six floors
Beyond the development of Rockrose Development’s new rental tower in Long Island City and JetBlue’s recent arrival in the same neighborhood, the City University of New York will continue the trend of new arrivals with the opening of its law school’s new space at 2 Court Square this year, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to CUNY Law’s website, the space will open this summer. [more]
From left: Simon Development CEO Jonathan Simon and the Crescent Club
Landlord and builder Simon Development Group took ownership of a 130-unit residential project in Long Island City, following a foreclosure on the $51 million note. Simon Development, based in Midtown, acquired the Crescent Club at 41-17 Crescent Street on March 16, according to city property records published today. Simon bought the defaulted mortgage note from Citibank in July 2011. [more]
An interior shot of the new JetBlue headquarters
[Updated at 2:53 p.m. with responses from JetBlue] Today marks the opening of the 200,000-square-foot headquarters of JetBlue Airways in Long Island City, according to a press release issued by the city this morning.
JetBlue now occupies the Brewster Building at 27-01 Queens Plaza North between 27th and 28th streets, which is owned by Brause Realty. Built in 1911, according to the release, the Brewster Building is the site where the Brewster Aeronautical Company built the Brewster F2A, which was the first monoplane fighter airplane flown by the Navy during World War II. As previously reported, JetBlue had to clear at least six hurdles to install a 40-foot top-of-building sign that would be visible from Manhattan. [more]
From left: Doron Zwickel, executive vice president at Core, and a rendering of One Murray Park
Construction on a once-stalled condominium project in Long Island City is back on track and the development is set to launch sales in early April, according to Core, the building’s exclusive marketing agent.
One Murray Park, at 11-25 45th Avenue, is the first new condominium to launch sales in Long Island City in over a year, Doron Zwickel, executive vice president at Core, who is heading sales at the property, told The Real Deal. [more]
FedEx Ground will open a distribution facility in LIC
As Fresh Direct grabs headlines for ditching Long Island City, FedEx Ground has forged plans to build a new $56 million on the grocer’s current block for a new distribution center. According to the New York Daily News, FedEx will close its Maspeth distribution facility next year to move into a 140,000-square-foot center on Borden Avenue. [more]
Long Island City
Apartments for families are all the rage in Long Island City, the New York Times reported, and new developments slated for the area are prioritizing amenities such as playrooms, capitalizing on the relative affordability, commuting possibilities and the suburban feeling of the city.
In the first quarter of 2011, the average size of a unit sold was 822 square feet, while in the fourth quarter it had jumped to 1,364 square feet, according to data provided by Jonathan Miller of appraisal firm Miller Samuel. [more]
Thomas Elghanayan
The Elghanayan brothers’ TF Cornerstone has more than a dozen residential projects rising in Long Island City, of 35 total in the area, the New York Observer reported. So what makes the Elghanayans, who left their brother Henry, of Rockrose Development, to form TF Cornerstone in 2009, so confident that Queens is the next Williamsburg? “It’s four minutes on the 7 train to Grand Central [Terminal],” Thomas Elghanayan told the paper.
Elghanayan goes on to say that LIC is “the prime outer-borough location,” that TF Cornerstone has refinanced its entire portfolio to the tune of $1.1 billion, and that while he is glad Henry is building in the same area, his and Frederick’s is “the real luxury property out there.” [more]
28-20 Borden Avenue in Long Island City
FedEx Ground is building a new 140,000-square-foot distribution center in Long Island City, Queens, according to Real Estate Weekly, as part of a nationwide network expansion to boost volume capacity and to replace an existing facility at 5590 48th Street in Flushing.
Construction on the new $56 million center, at 29-01 and 28-20 Borden Avenue, is slated to begin in February, REW said, and will be completed in early 2013. [more]
Long Island City prices (source: Modern Spaces)
For the first time in several years, Long Island City apartment sales prices rose across the board in 2011 and buyers put a premium on larger units, according to a year-end report released yesterday by Modern Spaces.
The average price per square-foot of a studio increased 3.6 percent from 2010 to $697.45, and the average price paid per square-foot for a one-bedroom jumped 3.4 percent to $700.94. But the biggest increases occurred in the two- and three-bedroom sectors. [more]
A meal at M. Wells before it went out of business
Popular Long Island City restaurant M. Wells will get a second chance after a dispute with their former landlord shut the beloved eatery last August, the New York Daily News reported.
M. Wells owner Hugue Dufour told the Canadian Broadcasting Company that he and wife Sarah Obraitis would be opening a cafeteria-style eatery in at the Museum of Modern Art PS1. The museum would not comment, the News said. [more]
