Straddling 46th Street along Queens Boulevard, the Art Deco-style Sunnyside arch has been rusting for a decade. Nearby, on a recent weekday, a sidewalk vendor attracted more attention than the stores. At block’s end, a Chase branch stood empty, set to open in the coming weeks.
The bank’s new location, which features signs in Korean, occupies a recently completed commercial building north of Queens Boulevard at 47th Street. Built by Bronx-based Procida Development, its ground floor includes a Quizno’s, a hair salon and AirNetZone.
Other buildings are rising along bustling Queens Boulevard, which bisects the neighborhood. Unlike in other Queens neighborhoods, though, few residents fear that the local character is under siege.
“There’s a large core of relatively well-maintained four- and six-story buildings here that’s not moving at all and will keep the nature of the neighborhood intact for generations,” said Gerald Lederman, who owns apartment buildings in Sunnyside, Astoria and Manhattan.
Sunnyside is known primarily for a nearby railroad yard. Resurrecting a plan first discussed in the 1960s, a city consultant recently concluded that covering the chasm from Thomson Avenue to 43rd Street would yield up to 35,000 new housing units.
If ever completed, the new neighborhood would abut Sunnyside’s north end, which includes pre-war apartments, a hipster’s row along Skillman Avenue and a pioneering planned community, Sunnyside Gardens. Strollers abound and the new bistro Quaint threatens to supplant Aubergine Cafe as the boite of choice among ex-Manhattanites. Still, there’s an Irish pub on seemingly every block.
The elevated No. 7 subway line, straddled by Queens Boulevard, dominates the geography. At 50th Street, the eastern border with Woodside, the tracks turn onto Roosevelt Avenue and the ornamented stone structure gives way to green metal. The western boundary with Long Island City is not as stark. Starting at 39th Street, where the zip code flips, Sunnyside melts into industrial Long Island City.
Construction fences are more prevalent south of the tracks, where apartment buildings turn into smaller homes, though lot sizes can be compact. By far the largest construction job under way is the renovation of middle school IS 215.
Along Queens Boulevard at 41st Street, Phoenix Realty Group of Port Washington is building a new six-story, 31-unit condominium with 8,500 square feet of street-level retail and two levels of parking due to open in June 2007, said Thomas Korakis, manager at Phoenix Realty Group.
Asking prices for the one- and two-bedroom apartments are still being considered. “There’s nothing like this for a 10-block radius, so it’s impossible to determine comparables,” said Korakis. “We think we’ll be successful with a modern building that fits into its surroundings.”
Toward the main shopping district, Dunkin’ Donuts, Mobil, White Castle and Wendy’s seem to appeal more to motorists than pedestrians. In true Queens fashion, a Nepalese-Japanese restaurant occupies a row of stores sandwiched between the chains. Several bus lines converge at the intersection of Greenpoint Avenue, 47th Avenue and 44th Street, located a block from the boulevard.
At 45-35 47th Street, New Ho Xin Development of Flushing plans to complete its 14-unit residential rental building within six months. Between 49th and 50th streets, next to three empty single-story storefronts, a five-level glass-and-stone structure nears completion.
Most Sunnyside newcomers, said Lederman, are renters priced out of Dumbo, Williamsburg, Lower Manhattan and Long Island City. In his buildings, one-bedrooms rent for $1,200 to $1,400 a month, studios from $950 to $1,100.
“We’re up to 13 and 14 gross rent multipliers, which is crazy, but my buildings in Astoria, from my perspective, have higher rents and less value than those in Sunnyside,” he said. “And we’re only 15 minutes from Manhattan.”
New York View Realty, a residential brokerage off Queens Boulevard on 44th Street, says two-bedroom rentals in the neighborhood run from $1,400 to $1,900. One-bedroom listings include $1,200 for a rent-stabilized unit with a new kitchen to $1,595 for a 1,000-square-foot unit.
Only three condominium buildings exist in Sunnyside and co-ops skew toward singles or couples without children, said New York View sales associate Eva Lokaj.
“People who come to big apartments here don’t move out,” she said. “Last year, one-bedrooms for under $175,000 were impossible to find. Now it’s $200,000.”
Studios and one-bedrooms listed by New York View range from $125,000 ($389 maintenance) to $249,000 ($405 maintenance). A junior four asks $290,000 ($710 maintenance).
Ironically, as the demographic has diversified in the neighborhood, stores are becoming more homogenized. The New Neighborhood Pharmacy on Greenpoint Avenue, for example, competes with an Eckerd and a Rite Aid, which are mere satellites of larger chain drug stores along Queens Boulevard.
In most of Sunnyside’s commercial precincts, one-story structures stand on lots zoned for up to seven stories. After a restaurant fire at 46th Street and Queens Boulevard, the conservative property owner chose to rebuild as the building was, rather than tussle with the Buildings Department for a larger structure. New tenants include a Starbucks, which is expected to open this month, and a T-Mobile store.
“We’re moving from being a Dunkin’ Donuts community to a Starbucks community,” said Lederman. “We have to get a small branch of a big box. We’re not ready for Banana Republic, but maybe an Old Navy or a Gap. The other thing we need is a bookstore.”
Luke Adams, a consultant for the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce, welcomes national outlets to keep local shoppers from trekking to the Queens Mall. But, he said, “our local coffee shop, the Grind, is really charming and I’m not sure that Starbucks will make it in Sunnyside.”
Faced with potential change, local boosters are attempting to revive past glories. Long-promised grant money came through to repair the iconic Sunnyside arch; the City Council is considering the local Chamber of Commerce’s initiative to institute a Business Improvement District; and activists in Sunnyside Gardens keep pressing for landmarking.
“We’ve had some rough times here,” said Adams. “Our strongest draw is the restaurants — and thank god for them — but the BID will help attract the new retail that we need.”