When the 7 train surfaces in Long Island City, straphangers are greeted by an oversize likeness of the late rapper Notorious B.I.G. on a hulking warehouse covered in graffiti. Soon they are likely to see two shiny apartment towers.
Longtime property owner David Wolkoff wants to replace 5Pointz—a five-story, block-long canvas for graffiti artists for 15 years—with 1,000 residential units. In addition to the 41-story and 47-story buildings, his plan includes some 30,000 square feet of retail space, a public parking garage and designated walls where aerosol artists can continue claiming their tagging rights.
“It was inevitable,” said Mr. Wolkoff, whose family bought the building in the late 1960s, leasing space to manufacturers and working artists over the years. “We knew many, many years ago that Long Island City was going to change.”
The city must first approve the Wolkoff family’s request to increase the site’s building size to 1 million total square feet from 400,000. Graffiti Gauguins might consider spraying at 5Pointz while they can: Demolition could take place as soon as fall 2013.
MANHATTAN: Hard hats help the Village heal
Construction workers are being welcomed in notoriously development-shy Greenwich Village.
Since internal demolition began at the old St. Vincent’s Hospital complex in March, Seventh and Greenwich avenue businesses are getting a boost, according to the Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce.
“We are starting to see guys in hard hats come in for coffee,” said Michael Caswell, owner of the Roasting Plant coffeehouse on Greenwich Avenue. His business had slipped by nearly a third since the hospital closed in 2010. Rudin Management Co., which won approval to build a luxury residential complex despite community opposition, said the site’s 180 workers will swell to 550 once construction work gets into full swing. That’s far fewer than the 3,500 hospital staffers who used to frequent local establishments.
