From left: Packard Square North and a rendering of Crescent ClubWith the development of Gotham Center complex, the city had long hoped Queens Plaza would be the commercial compliment to Long Island City’s residential boom, but according to the Wall Street Journal, Queens Plaza is becoming a residential beacon, too.

Between 2,000 and 3,000 new apartment units could hit the market in the area in the next three years, led by developers Rockrose Development, Meadow Properties and Heatherwood Communities.

Heatherwood has purchased four residential development sites in the area, and the first of them is set to hit the market with 142 rental units in a little more than a year at 27th Street and 42nd Road. [more]

Manhattan-based HighCap Group has sold the first mortgage note secured by the property at 41-17 Crescent Street in Long Island City, according to a statement released today by its managing principals Josh Goldflam and Laurence Ross. The note was sold last week, according to Goldflam, but he declined to identify the buyer. The mortgage was purchased at a discounted price from its par value of approximately $48 million. The site, now a Karl Fisher-designed full-service apartment building better known as the Crescent Club, broke ground in 2007, but like many projects stalled due to adverse market conditions. – Miranda Neubauer [more]

The vacant site at 29-37 41st Avenue

Lender U.S. Bank won a judgment for $17.2 million, in a decision published yesterday, against a developer that sought to build a Starwood Aloft hotel in Long Island City, but the project stalled and the site remains vacant. In addition to the judgment on the loan, the decision awarded the bank $4.3 million in personal guarantees given by four individuals to secure the loan. The lender’s victory over the investors may portend further trouble for developers citywide who frequently provided millions of dollars in personal guarantees during the building boom to encourage lending, but who now are facing judgments by lenders seeking to collect on their promises to pay all or portions of loans. The developer, Queens Plaza Development, filed plans to build a 16-story hotel at 29-37 41st Avenue in Queens Plaza near the Queensboro Bridge, Department of Buildings documents show. Last year, Starwood’s Web site identified the 249-room project as By the Bridge, with an opening date of Dec. 31, 2010, but that information is no longer available on the site. Starwood did not immediately respond to a request for comment. [more]

National lender U.S. Bank is suing to recover a $17.2 million loan made
to a Brooklyn company that planned to develop a Long Island City parcel into a
Starwood Aloft hotel, court papers show. “The relief sought is judgment against defendant Queens Plaza
Development in the amount of $17,236,709.77, plus interest, costs and
attorneys fees,” the motion filed April 24 in Manhattan State Supreme
Court says. Queens Plaza Development filed plans in January 2008 for a 220-foot
tall, 16-story hotel at 29-37 41st Avenue in Queens Plaza,
city Department of Buildings records show. Despite demolishing a three-story bank building after demolition plans
were filed with DOB in March 2008, the site remains vacant.
[more]