In 2004, the New York Times published an article called ‘Outer Borough’ Finally Attracts the ‘In’ Crowd. They were talking about Queens where, at the time, the average price per square foot for a co-op was a mere $250 to $400. We all know how this story goes. In consequent years, the average price for condos and co-ops in the borough has soared as quickly as its waterfront towers.
“The up-and-coming neighborhood clearly is Long Island City,” the founder and president of Citi Habitats told the Times in 2004. “There is definitely a major housing shortage in the New York City area, and anything with close proximity to Manhattan via train or car is going to be very desirable.” He wasn’t wrong.
Long Island City is now the borough’s nexus of new development. In the waterfront neighborhood, the average price per square foot now teeters around $1,264, according to StreetEasy. And that doesn’t include its slightly more expensive sub-neighborhood to the west, Hunters Point, where those glassy towers spring up at a breakneck pace.
But it isn’t only the major developments of Hunters Point that are transforming the neighborhood. Slightly more inland, along Jackson Avenue, new condos, rentals, hotels, and offices abound. The whole avenue, a short 13 blocks, almost looks like one big construction site. We visited the avenue to catch up on the status of all its new developments, from the rental towers rising on the erstwhile site of 5Pointz, to ODA’s boxy new rentals, to sites waiting for their next life. Here’s what we saw.
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Move ins at 1 Vernon Jackson at 10-17 Jackson Avenue began in 2011. These days, there’s one 2BR/2BA apartment in the building on the market and its asking $1.2M.
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The new Pulaski Bridge bike lane in action. The L Haus apartment building in the back was designed by Cetra Ruddy.
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A remnant of old Jackson Avenue.
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Sweatleaf Coffee opened in 2008 and remains one of the few social places to gather casually on the avenue.
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Echelon, at 13-11, was built in 2006. According to StreetEasy, the building’s three active sales are commanding over $1,000 per square foot on average.
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This site at the corner of 47th Avenue will give way to The Jackson, a 56-apartment building that hit the market in March with condos priced from $600,000.
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Another look at the site of The Jackson at 13-33 Jackson Avenue.
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Move-ins are on at the ODA-designed building at 22-22 Jackson Avenue. Rentals in the building hit the market in April asking from $2,275.
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The former site of graffiti haven 5Pointz is being prepped to give way to two large rental towers.
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The development at the site of 5Pointz will feature two twin 48-story towers.
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The Court Square Diner has been operating since 1956.
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An empty lot at the corner of 23rd Street appears to be a site once slated for a no-frills Tokoyo Hotel. The Long Island City Partnership indicates that the project is on hold.
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It’s long since been surpassed for the title of Queens’s tallest tower (a supertall for the borough was unveiled last week,) but the 50-story rental building rising at 43-25 Hunter Street (at the corner of Jackson and 44th Drive) was once the tallest tower slated for the borough. It’s being developed by Rockrose and should be finished in 2017.
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Next to the Rockrose development, crane watch is ON.
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Silvercup Properties is developing this 27-story building at 27-21 44th Drive. When it’s finished it will have 120 apartments.
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The view from Dutch Kills Street.
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Uber’s set up a corporate office at 27-55.
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Tishman Speyers massive three-tower development is poised to bring 1,789 apartments to the corner of Jackson Avenue and Orchard Street. Initial reports said that Tishman planned on building a 42-story tower at the site first, and if that’s the case, this is it.
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Another look at Tishman’s massive development site.
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Tishman Speyer built the office building at Two Gotham Center in 2011. In the beginning og March, the developer filed plans for two more office buildings on the block: a 29-story and a 30-story tower. YIMBY reported in early March that We Work has already signed on for some 500,000 square feet of space between the two buildings.
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The building with the colorful panels is an Aloft Hotel that’s expected to open in October.
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Blissville Kitchen has shuttered.
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In Long Island City, old meets new.
