New York Metro Real Estate News

THE spires of Midtown Manhattan appear to stand at the end of every avenue in Long Island City, a waterfront enclave on the western tip of Queens dominated by warehouses, manufacturing, modest houses and a skyline view without parallel. This year, new structures are rising on the horizon, and this time they are Long Island City's own, the start of a long-predicted residential building boom that has quickly come to dominate a neighborhood one subway stop from Grand Central Terminal.

The number of projects under construction or slated to begin cannot be counted on one hand, or even two or three. A former power plant for the Pennsylvania Railroad on Fifth Street will soon become condominiums. The former headquarters of Eagle Electric on Thomson Avenue will have lofts with 14- to 17-foot ceilings. And on the waterfront, the Rockrose Development Corporation is building the first of seven planned residential towers, a development called the East Coast with more than 3,000 units on the site of a former Pepsi-Cola bottling plant.

All of this is happening in a neighborhood that has long been touted as all but certain to be the next hot area. In reality, the impetus arrived in July 2001, when the City Council voted to rezone 37 blocks stretching from the water to Queens Plaza and the Sunnyside Rail Yard.

''Now that these many years have passed, it's amazing it's happened so quickly,'' said Joseph Conley, chairman of Community Board 2, who has worked in the area for 23 years. ''By and large, there's not one street you can walk down where there's not a new development.''

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The neighborhood's historic district, which features brownstone and limestone town houses in addition to brick beauties, is just a block long. These homes, on 45th Avenue, are perhaps the neighborhood's most sought-after, and several are undergoing interior renovations.

Long Island City has three main commercial strips: Vernon Boulevard, Jackson Avenue and Queens Plaza. Of these, Vernon Boulevard is host to by far the most foot traffic, as it contains the bulk of the area's shops and restaurants. It is also the location of that prized subway station, Vernon Boulevard-Jackson Avenue on the No. 7 line, one stop from Midtown.

Jackson Avenue, which runs diagonally from Vernon Boulevard past the tall green Citicorp tower at Court Square, offers fewer shops but is host to several new residential developments, including a 13-story tower with 55 apartments designed by the Newman Design Group.

Jackson Avenue ends at Queens Plaza and the entrance to the Queensborough Bridge, which acts as a sort of 1970's Times Square late at night, with erotic dance clubs, DVD outlets and the occasional prostitute. Nevertheless, efforts are beginning to clean up the area, with security patrols, street-cleaning crews, business incentives and, later, add green spaces. Already, the Developers Group, also behind the Jackson Avenue tower, has started sales at the Queens Plaza, a 10-story condominium building on nearby 27th Street.

As for new projects, many are still in early stages, but some near-completed properties are already on the market. For example, at the Gantry, the development on Fifth Street, prices begin in the mid-$500,000's for one-bedroom condos and start in the high $800,000's for three-bedroom duplexes. Units should be ready for occupancy this summer, and many of the area's other projects are scheduled to become available next year.

In terms of homes in move-in condition, co-op apartments in the Citylights tower on the waterfront occasionally become available, with studios averaging $270,000, one-bedrooms from the mid-$300,000's to mid-$400,000's, and two-bedrooms averaging $550,000, said Valerie Dominguez, a broker with the Corcoran Group. Maintenance charges are high, beginning at $500 a month for studios and $2,500 for two-bedrooms. Ms. Dominguez recently sold a one-bedroom with a den and northern views on the 12th floor of that building for $370,000.

Houses in the neighborhood rarely appear on the market, and when they do, the average price is around $1.5 million. Yet ''they're about a stone's throw from coming up to $2 million, when those developers start putting up their buildings,'' Ms. Schiff of Douglas Elliman said.

Rental apartments are similarly difficult to find, though many have recently been bought by developers and renovated to attract higher rents. While some one-bedrooms are as low as $1,200 a month, some with new features rent for more than $2,000. Two-bedrooms in the heart of the area start around that price, with luxury units in the Avalon Riverview tower on the waterfront getting up to $3,000.

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The first of seven residential towers planned by the Rockrose Development Corporation is now under construction in Long Island City, Queens. (Photographs by Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times); On the Market: 5-11 50TH AVENUE -- This three-year-old building, center, can be configured into four or five two-bedroom units, and is listed at $3.2 million. (212) 639-9716; 44-78 23RD STREET -- This two-family house, at far left, has an owners' duplex and a one-bedroom rental, and is listed at $1.95 million. (212) 727-6125; 4-74 48TH AVENUE, #12K -- A one-bedroom, one-bath condop in the waterfront Citylights tower is listed at $370,000. (646) 732-3607

by Jeff Vandam
New York Times www.nytimes.com page 11.7
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=929014281&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientId=13371&RQT=309&VName=PQD

A Transformation Slips Into High Gear

11/20/05

07:22:55 pm A Transformation Slips Into High Gear

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