From left: Rockrose Development principals Henry and Justin Elghanayan and an early rendering of 43-10 Crescent StreetWhile TF Cornerstone has been busy building residential towers on the Long Island City waterfront since it split from Rockrose Development in 2009, the New York Times reported Rockrose Development is just now starting construction on its first project without brothers Tom and Fred Elghanayan further inland in the Court Square area of Long Island City.
The project is a 42-story, 709-unit rental building called Linc LIC at 43-10 Crescent Street that’s expected to be complete in 2013. Rents will be $38 per square foot, about 25 percent below what a comparable Manhattan development would command, according to Rockrose, and similar to other new rental developments in the area. The $275 million building will have two outdoor spaces, and 8,000-square-foot courtyards on the third and 31st floors.
Soon, Rockrose will break ground on two more rental buildings in a nearby lot and bring another 1,700 units and $750 million of construction spending to the area.
“I think it’s about to pop,” said Justin Elghanayan, principal of Rockrose and son of Henry Elghanayan, of Court Square.
Much of the area’s improvement an be attributed to the new office buildings that have risen since the Citicorp Building opened its doors in 1989. Rockrose is counting on those workers to rent in their forthcoming buildings, and may be responsible for even more office workers in Court Square when a fourth building, which Rockrose is considering developing as office space, arises sometime after the second and third buildings are complete. [NYT]