The tower at 4545 Center Blvd. is the latest addition to the growing Long Island City skyline
The biggest building in Long Island City has sold out.
In only eight months, developer TF Cornerstone has leased up all 820 units at its waterfront tower, 4545 Center Blvd.
The benchmark is another sign of Long Island City’s growing popularity as the area shifts from a desolate manufacturing zone into one of the five borough’s hottest neighborhoods.
“It’s kind of breathtaking to lease that many units in such a short period of time,” said Rick Rosa, head of Douglas Elliman’s Long Island City office, which is unaffiliated with the 41-story tower. “It just goes to show you, Long Island City isn’t up-and-coming any more — it’s arrived.”
TF Cornerstone first started renting units last June, with the last of them being leased at the end of January.
“Some weeks we were leasing 35, 40 apartments,” said Sophia Estevez, executive vice-president at TF Cornerstone. “We’ve had a lot of success over here, but nothing like this.”
For the past decade, TF Cornerstone and its former partners at Rockrose Development have been the double-engined forces behind the development of these moribund blocks in Queens, adding a combined eight new residential towers since 2006.
The building at 4545 is the largest, and second-to-last to open. The final tower, 4610 Center Blvd., has 585 units and will begin leasing in the spring. There’s already a waiting list, according to Estevez.
“We’ve got a new school, we’ve got one of the best new parks in the city, and some of the best views,” she said.
These towers are hardly the end of the area’s growth.
Already, smaller sites are sprouting new buildings farther inland, and a boom is rippling across Court Square, including the controversial redevelopment of the Five Pointz Aerosol Art Center into a pair of apartment towers.
The city is also developing Hunter’s Point South just a few blocks past TF Cornerstone’s towers. The 6,500-unit development will offer up half of its apartments as affordable to middle-income families, and TF Cornerstone was just selected to develop the project’s second phase.
The newfound popularity is translating into a rise in prices, too. Long Island City saw the second greatest rise in real estate values last year, 24%, according to a January analysis of market trends by The News.
