LIC Popularity Growing

I love the first comment to the article:

"Now all the city has to do is turn Queens Bridge Houses, Astoria Houses and Ravenswood Houses into Condo's and get the welfare, drug dealers, and all non-working class people out of the area and Long Island City will be even better."

buy now...LIC RE is selling like hotcakes...there's little supply, and nowhere else to build out there...beachfront on newtown creek is long since sold out

buy now or be SOL!!

I lived in LIC for over 10 years. Prior to that i lived in the upper west side.
The neighbor has really come around over the past 3 years. The crowd seems to be getting younger and younger but at the same time i'm seeing more and more young families around the neighborhood. With the new parks and buildings come up by the water front over the next 5-10 years LIC's popularity will only get better.

"seems to be getting younger and younger", just like Benjamin Button.

Poetry, anyone?

CarolSt likes it... meaning its BAD. Hopefully, she doesn't flip out again.

btw, if we're shedding employment, where are all the new families going to come from?

The Manhattan bursting at the seams argument doesn't hold much water anymore.

Long Island City
Selling like crabcakes
Or is it just lice?

I guess I just violated code 575. Sue me.

or

Long Island City
Condos selling like crabcakes?
Or maybe it's lice

The new residents come from different areas- Manhattanite couples who just had children and need more space, or just Manhattan renters who are looking to buy; Queens and Brooklyn residents who want an easier commute, some new to NY entirely. It is a great mix.

but, unfortunately, a dwindling mix, especially compared to how much was built.

Remember, much of brooklyn, hoboken, williamsburg, flatbush corridor, etc. is competing for the same base, which isn't getting any bigger, and Manhattan with its reduced prices is not even more competitive.

Given the NYC outflow of the young yuppie, that business model isn't holding up too well.

Don't fret, somewhereelse, the City will help by building five thousand units of low-income housing in Long Island City.

Itz not that ppl are getting younger.. YOU ARE GETTING OLD!

FLMAO... http://streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/510770-coop-41-west-82nd-street-upper-west-side-new-york?featured=1

3bdrm 1.5 bath $1.2MM..columbus and 82nd street. 2004 price $900K.. how many nimwits with $1MM 2bdrm in LIC is kicking themselves in the AZZ? yeah, and when this unit trades at below 2004 prices then your "home" in LIC is worth? And dont' forget the forever construction site for the new PROJECTS in LIC!!! Whooooot!

I like LIC long-term, but not at current prices. A lot of future growth is already built into the prices that the condo developers are asking, and, like the rest of the city, LIC still hasn't come down far enough off the hyper-inflated peak of the bubble.

"when this unit trades at below 2004 prices "

Where have we hear this from? Oh that's right. About 15 months ago.

The City-Island of Long,
Predicted to go simply viral
Is filled once again
By mixed denizen
But the prices?: nonstop downward spiral.

Nice Alan.

To carol, even at $1.2mm, itz a much much much better deal than a 2bdrm $1mm condo at the powerprojects you nimwit.

Keep 'predicting' because you've been DEAD wrong over the past 2 years.

sme- true, but LIC isn't just relying on Manhattanites. And the market for the other areas you mentioned really is different. There is not too much overlap in interested buyers between Williamsburg and LIC. Most people who look at one have made up their mind that they aren't interested in the other. Someone who lives in Flushing or Forest Hills and commutes to midtown for work is going to consider LIC but not downtown Brooklyn. Williamsburg has a whole different feel, different transportation lines, etc., than LIC. Given what happened with the market and the economy the last couple years, LIC has held up very well. I live there, I see how more people are moving in, and more people are becoming aware and checking out the area.

Whatever happen to the 60% MORE correction.
You nimwit.

You can't buy because you're a dead broke loser living with your 90 year old parents.

i don't like it at any price. long island city just sucks. and i am from queens originally

I'm with you glamma.. LIC will always be the first toxic suburb of Manhattan, where the cabbies park their cars overnite to save the $4 in gas to get from Bklyn to Manhattan.

CarolSt... 25% correction... if you can keep adding... it'll get to 60%.. FLMAO. This bubble wasn't built in a day and from what I hear.. it's colder than a frozen turkey 1 week bf thanksgiving.. in manhattan.. BUT I'm SURE LIC IS HOPPING !!!!! FLMAO.

> Keep 'predicting' because you've been DEAD wrong over the past 2 years.

cAROLsT, did you really just complain about the accuracy of OTHERS' predictions?
LOL.

you were one of the ones who said there was no crash!

not so smart!

"sme- true, but LIC isn't just relying on Manhattanites."

I hope so. There is very little market without 'em.

"There is not too much overlap in interested buyers between Williamsburg and LIC."

Yeah, I just don't think you're right there. WB has been marketing to and selling to the same demographic. They can't fill the towers with hipsters. Much of the new construction gets the same diverse group (many with kids) who need to be in Manhattan.

WB demo is changing... and they're absolutely competing.

"Given what happened with the market and the economy the last couple years, LIC has held up very well"

Only if we redefine "held up". it didn't, it sank like everything else. If your point is "LIC held as well as everywhere else", that doesn't say much.

LIC, how come you only quote articles devoid of stats?
Do you only read human interest pieces?

Really not a lot of evidence to support your claims.

There are lies, damn lies and statistics.

sme, most of the people I know in LIC had no interest at all in Williamsburg. Not everyone, but most. It is driven by the feel of the area, and by commuting. If you work in midtown, LIC is just a much, much better commute.

LIC has held up better than other locations. If you look at retail, there have been some closures, but there have been other businesses that opened, and overall there is significantly more now than a couple of years ago.

Why is it so hard for you to accept that LIC is becoming a popular area?

man oh man... in the absence of an "overpriced" bubble manhattan do you think LIC would've even had one bldg built? Those industrial factories have been sitting dormant since our family paid some snakeheads to board a boat to manhattan... like 30 yrs ago.... absent bubble LIC is AZZ... now bubble gone LIC is still AZZ w Viking refrigerators....

w67 is ignorant. As usual. As soon as the city council passed the rezoning of the area, in 2004, the construction started. Nothing was going to happen before then.

Waterfront area. Lots of public transportation. 5 minute ride to midtown. Manhattan views. Of course the area has been prime for development.

I am NOT an ignorant SLUT.

Now back to LIC.

Oh, I wonder why nobody bothered to ask for a re-zoning prior to 2004? rhymes with trouble, and hubble.. but not really stubble..

Thank you for playing, LICC.

I've got it!

Rubble!!

Try again cc. Getting closer. Maybe licc can help.

W67th: "rhymes with trouble, and hubble.. but not really stubble.."

Ooh, it would be awesome if somebody could adapt "Trouble in River City" to the Housing Bubble.

LICcomm, is it true that Long Island City residents are required to pass through decontamination stations before entering New York?

No, that is not true, the stations are entirely optional.

(Sorry, LICC, I've got nothing against LIC. Just had to reply to that easy setup.)

The LICC rezoning was in the works for years. Blame the city council for taking forever to get anything done.

w67- a slut??? Who said anything about you being a slut?

alan- do they make you show that you tried to work before they give you a handout? Oh, of course not.

LICC, it's a famous line from classic Saturday Night Live: "Jane, you ignorant slut."

after visiting the local stop and shop, i realized i was the only one paying without food stamps.

Thanks nada. That was from the Chevy Chase, Dan Ackroyd days? Pre-dates me a bit.

This says it all: "It's not as saturated as desirable neighborhoods"

HAHAHAHAHA!

steve is the board clown liar again. Just read the whole sentence. The dining section editor of Time Out New York, talking about the restaurants in the area said:

"There are destination places starting to pop up," she said. "It's not as saturated as desirable neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Manhattan and there's still an opportunity to plant your flag."

So it's like being on the moon? The dark side of the moon?

The comparison between a 1 mm 2 bedroom condo in LIC and a 1.2 mm co-op with a maintenance of $1465 is just silly. They are two entirely different products in two entirely different environments. Arguments concerning whether either is over-priced aside, the fact is that neighborhoods like LIC, Williamsburg and Greenpoint have many appealing attributes that appeal to some people, not others - young people, families and old people alike. If they don't appeal to you, don't move there. Personally, I detest coops and would not choose to live on Central Park West for an army of reasons, no matter what the value.

Making it undesirable.

I planted my flag in Long Island
City, whose call I had hearkened.
I got there to find
My life was confined
To pollution and swampland and quicksand.

Long Island City
condos so bleak and remote
they're "Sewer's Folly"

dark side of the moon
tough, lonely, rough, but fear not
we'll have a park soon

So many haters. I don't even live there, but I can see with my own eyes how many buildings have gone up in the past ten years. OBVIOUSLY more people - and mostly young, single people yes, live there then in 2005, and more lived there in 2005 than in 2000. Its just like Fidi or west Hell's Kitchen. So what? Why try and knock it down so much? Sure, its not Tribecca, but its a lot nicer than it was when I first moved to NYC in 2000.

There are destination places starting to pop
up, though 9 out of 10 flop clean-
up. I have to say
"Hunters Point has come a long way"
With Water Taxi Beach and its trollops.

LIC, the place where LICC can live with the subsidized, excessively pensioned, lazy project-dwellers he loves so well

steve lives in a dumpy rental building on 52nd and 8th and he talks about pollution?

steve lives

http://www.ellingtonnyc.com/

a few blocks from Central Park in the theater district.

LICC lives:

http://www.wirednewyork.com/queens/images/queensbridge_houses_8feb04.jpg

a few blocks from the Newtown Creek and the Queensbridge Houses.

You choose.

Why do these boards turn into nightmares with the start of every thread? Its always the same people starting it over and over again. What is your purpose? I dont understand how you have the time in your day to stalk these boards and start arguments.

I don't understand how you have the time in your day to read these boards and arguments and comment on them.

I posted a nice positive article about LIC. That's all. steve decides from his dumpy rental in one of the most polluted areas in NYC to insult the place where other people live.

"So many haters. I don't even live there, but I can see with my own eyes how many buildings have gone up in the past ten years. OBVIOUSLY more people - and mostly young, single people yes, live there then in 2005, and more lived there in 2005 than in 2000."

Well, that might actually not be a good thing. Yes, lots of buildings. Enough demand to fill... doesn't look like it.

"Its just like Fidi or west Hell's Kitchen."

No, its not. You can have your preferences, but its not like either of them. There is a huge difference between being off the island and on - for many, many reasons - and pricing generally represents that.

"Sure, its not Tribecca, but its a lot nicer than it was when I first moved to NYC in 2000."

Agreed, its better. But enough to justify $800 psf or even $700 psf. IMHO, no.

Lots of places are much better than they were in 2000, but they don't price them like they're Manhattan.

"steve decides from his dumpy rental in one of the most polluted areas in NYC to insult the place where other people live."

We already know that you're not an owner, LICC, just a bitter renter on the Newtown Creek.

All I did was quote directly from the article - "It's not as saturated as desirable neighborhoods" - and post a little poetry.

The truth, like fashion, hurts.

steve, you and the truth are very rarely related.

sme, you are not basing anything you say on facts. Please point out to me which condo buildings in the Hunters Point section of LIC are not selling?

I said LIC, please don't try and change what I wrote, or try and change the story. We're not doing this block by block.

L haus did some major price choppage in May, 5th street lofts in April, powerhouse is still having mad problems, that thing was DOA and those are just the ones that come to mind.

Also, a few new buildings only coming out just now... East of East, Murano, 1 Vernon Jackson, not going to help with the oversupply.

> sme, you are not basing anything you say on facts.

Btw, LIC, why are you just repeating what I said to you? You pee wee herman today?

"LIC, how come you only quote articles devoid of stats?
Do you only read human interest pieces?

Really not a lot of evidence to support your claims."

If you are making the claim, you should be supporting it. You simply haven't done that.

Who needs a coop on Central Park West
when bleak Long Island Cityl's
polychlorinated biphenyls
Are simply, complexly, tragilicially, the BEST

there's a really bullish piece today on LIC:

www.shillville.com

You and the truth are rarely related
Hunters Point isn't Hell - it's mis-berated!
So says LICC
A singular species
Who can't figure out why it's hated.

Company charged with dumping refuse oil from Long Island City into East River:

http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10A11FA3D54167A93C7A9178FD85F4D8285F9

The company has twenty days in which to file an answer.

20 days is the standard answer period for civil actions, FYI.

When you think about it, though, LIC's popularity only ever had one way to go - UP - considering where it started. So I guess the article isn't half-wrong anyway.

Having lived in HK, and having walked by the crowded and noisy block where steve lives, I would not be quite SO excited about where he lives versus LIC. I think most would view BOTH a full-fledged Times-Square location AND LIC to be "fringe." And chances are someone living in a unit comparable to Steve's in LIC is in a new building and has a MUCH better view.

That having been said, Steve IS in Manhattan. But as we know from the listed rents 9inclduing concessions), clearly there is very little premium to living where he does versus living where LICC does, whereas there is a HUGE premium to living in meatpacking or Lenox Hill.

Hence, LICC and Steve have living situations more similar than either would like to admit.

Having lived in HK, and having walked by the crowded and noisy block where steve lives, I would not be quite SO excited about where he lives versus LIC. I think most would view BOTH a full-fledged Times-Square location AND LIC to be "fringe." And chances are someone living in a unit comparable to Steve's in LIC is in a new building and has a MUCH better view.

That having been said, Steve IS in Manhattan. But as we know from the listed rents 9inclduing concessions), clearly there is very little premium to living where he does versus living where LICC does, whereas there is a HUGE premium to living in meatpacking or Lenox Hill.

Hence, LICC and Steve have living situations more similar than either would like to admit.

5SL has sold all their units. Anything now is resale. That building sold most units quickly. L Haus isn't in the waterfront area, but even giving you that, you only pointed to one building. Powerhouse actually has been selling more. Sure they cut prices, but they were priced higher than the market even at the peak.

The other buildings you mentioned just started sales, within the last week or so. Fact is, this empty building concept you are trying to portray is plain mistaken.

jason, there are THREE Duane Reades within a 3 block radius of my house.

There is 1 in all of LIC.

But if the buildings aren't empty, they must be ... ... ... HAUNTED!!!

Scooby Doo, where are you???!!!

"I think most would view BOTH a full-fledged Times-Square location AND LIC to be "fringe"

agreed.

"clearly there is very little premium to living where he does versus living where LICC does, whereas there is a HUGE premium to living in meatpacking or Lenox Hill."

I think the premium in asking isn't there, agreed. But in where things are actually selling, its substantial.

"and has a MUCH better view."

there are probably good and bad views in every building, but I'll take a good within manhattan view over one looking at Manhattan from a subtantial distance any day.

To me, best views in the city are the ones on 5th avenue, or something like madison square park, or even dowtown. With the view in your face.

If you want across water, DUMBO/BH have a much better view than LIC with the bridges and the much closer buildings (especially since downtown is much more interesting on waterfront than midtown/uptown).... and Hoboken beats it too IMHO.

That being said, if you're comparing view to now-view, of course its apples to oranges. But a high floor in a nice building in Manhattan can and should be at a vast, vast premium to LIC... and generally is.

Downtown view vs midtown view is a matter of opinion. It's hard to beat the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, UN, all midtown, 59th Street Bridge . . .

...Queensbridge Houses, Newtown Creek, LIRR rail yard, the L, the LIE, the BQE....

Midtown "fringe"? Really? Compared to what? Madison Square?

HAHAHAHA!

I have a to-die for view of Western Manhattan all the way to the Hudson and beyond to New Jersey. I'm near almost every major subway line in the city. The Thanksgiving parade is a block away, viewable from one of my TWO balconies. Steps from Columbus Circle and the park, and you can walk at night without fear of being killed.

Unlike LIC.

"jason, there are THREE Duane Reades within a 3 block radius of my house.

There is 1 in all of LIC."

ME: Well, that makes 125th in harlem or various locations in Staten Island or the Bronx PRIME. Please, you can do better than that.

"Midtown "fringe"? Really? Compared to what? Madison Square?"

No, not "midtown." TIMES SQUARE. you live smack dab in the middle of TIMES SQUARE.

http://maps.google.com/maps?num=100&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=AS2&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=260%20west%2052nd%2010036&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

Let's not kid ourselves. This is not PRIME manhattan. And we all know you spent endless posts in various threads bragging about how cheap your rent was.

Currently, your blgs website lists a 2/2 available for $3800. Which is actually 20% LESS than what Rose is asking for the Kent in Brooklyn (ouch) and what that same BK building wants for a ONE BEDRROM 9super ouch), the same as for the Berry in Brooklyn (double ouch), and more than 10% less than an actual midtown building of Rose's goes for, the monstrose. Something ACTUALLy near central park, the Aire, has Rose asking $6200.

For your rent, you can get a ONE bed at Rose's Madison Belvadere, Metropolis, Capitol Cheelsea, and Aire in the UWS.

Clearly then, both when you rented and now, you very own landlord prices your building for NOT what "prime" Manhattan goes for. It in fact has NEVER gone for as much as the other Rose buildings.

However, there are currently five rentals available on SE for 2/2 doorman units in LIC for $3500-$4000, and as a long-time renter who has looked at Harlem, Fidi, HK, AND LIC in my time, I can tell you for absolute certain that your building since the day it opened has rented for pretty much exactly what the Rockrose and Avalon bldgs in LIC go for.

Hence at no point EVER has your building rented for more or less than comparable bldgs in LICC, and it has ALWAYS rented for less than other Rose buildings not only in Manhattan, but inclduing some in BROOKLYN.

Ergo, times square is not prime.

PS - you can live on 110th and be CLOSER to CP, and still not be in Prime Manhattan. Hate to break up your delusion.

52nd & 8th is not Times Square; it's not even Duffy Square. It's solidly Hell's Kitchen.

the aire is brand new and grossly overpriced. much of the new rental stock, including lic, is overpriced. developers costs' were so great that their only option was to appeal to the "luxury" seeker.

steve's building kicks azz over lic in terms of location. just take a look at a subway map or pull out your zagats.

aboutready, how could that be poetry? It doesn't even rhyme.

the other day I came up with a very fine limerick and there were no other takers. I'm in a snit.

actually I'm packing and doing a horrendous amount of errands. I'll be a whiny, spoiled bitch and tell you it's not exactly simple to decamp to three different countries for a month vacay.

Oh AR. Pack like 10023. Do it in a whirlwind night of packing, don't sleep, and just comfort yourself that there is underwear to be bought for one's beauteous ass & exorbitantly $$$ sunscreen wherever you go. And before you leave, check for wallet, watch, testicles, spectacles.

Ah, and add PASSPORT for foreign travels.

snortastical 10023. I'm not an early packer but the husband has another trip he needs to take for business and he will then meet us a day later in London. Because he needs suits and work shoes and the like he had to take the biggest suitcase. If you've ever rented a car in europe you'll know why I needed to get at least enough stuff in his luggage to limit us to two real bags. And our daughter is bringing a friend. Who has her luggage too.

But I'll remind him about the testicles.

Why put yourselves through the nuisance of foreign travel when you can vacation on the sunny shores of Long Island City, playground of the rich-as-Manhattanite, site of the fountain of youth, restaurant capital of the world.

And men don't even NEED testicles there -- they do perfectly well without them, apparently. Spectacles certainly. But they make them.

Of themselves.

The apartments are not overpriced if people are renting them. The buildings in LIC have no problems getting renters.

aboutready is sitting in an apartment in Peter Cooper Village criticizing other neighborhoods. LOL!

alan- seldom right and wrong again:

The extended Times Square area, also called the Theatre District, consists of the blocks between Sixth and Eighth Avenues from east to west, and West 40th and West 53rd Streets

Steve is a RENTER. All these arguments about SALES prices in Times Square versus LIC are not relevant to what I am saying. The indisputable fact is that HIS EXACT BUILDING charges and has always charged the same rent as comparable rental buildings in LIC. Therefore the MARKET, made up of RENTERS, values the two similarly. You may have an OPINION that one is better than the other, but that has not ever translated into actual dollars charged or paid in rent...and the market is EVERYONE's opinion quantified.

LICcomm, not even you are stupid enough to tell me with sincerity that I'm wrong simply because in your imagination Times Square equates to an "extended" Times Square "area", which you then equate to the altogether different notion of "Theater District" (as we spell it in the United States of America).

By that illogic, Long Island City is part of the extended South Bronx area.

alan, I think you enjoy publicizing your ignorance:

Probably more appropriate for the purpose of defining the district is this interactive map from the Times Square Alliance, a Business Improvement District organization dedicated to improving the Theatre District. Their definition of the district is an irregular area from 40th Street to 53rd Street from east of Sixth Avenue to west of Eighth Avenue.

So, is that imaginary?

Seldom right and wrong again alan.

Moron, that's their definition of the THEATER DISTRICT, not their definition of Times Square.

Imaginary is not the word I'd choose.

Which is why it is called the extended Times Square area. Are you really this dense?? If it makes you feel better, you can just call it the Theater District. However, your insistence on it being "solidly Hell's Kitchen" is again, well, stupidly wrong.

jason is spot on. Most people who live in LIC choose living there over the Theater District because we like LIC more. It has nothing to do with affordability since the Theater District is not more expensive.

So how much would steve's apartment rent for if the Ellington could be teleported to LIC.

That's the apples to apples comparison

Yes, LICC, people make really stupid decisions during bubbles. I'll take my renovated apartment at $25 psf within easy walking distance of the flatiron and east village quite happily. And with the money I save I can pay for private school and a country house and lovely vacations with plenty left over for savings. What a horrid life I lead. Now, off to purchase some sunscreen. I'm cheap, you know, and can't abide marks & Spencer so I'll purchase here.

What LICcomm means is basically:

It's dollars to doughnuts that our State Fair,
Is the best State Fair in our state!

ar says living in LIC is stupid while she is in Peter Cooper Village - HA!

It certainly is stupid if your kid goes to one of the best private schools in the city and it's located on the upper east side. It's not my choice for many other reasons but I'm glad you're happy LICC. It would be a shame if someone as pleasant and compassionate as you are were unhappy

so the QOL in LIC makes the hideous mistake of buying there at the peak of the bubble worth it?

love my rental, my cash, my simple CT house, and my manhattan neighborhood--love most that i sold the peak of the bubble and didnt buy then into some hare-brained scheme in LIC!!

love the justice that LIC will soon live among the lazy, union-pensioned cops, firefighters and teachers; who will reside riverview in the fine projects being built that will dominate his neighborhood

It's true -- those goldbrickers of the criminal classes will soon dip whole wheat pita wedges into creamy hummus and nosh on miniature frosted cupcakes amidst the well-dressed patrons of Long Island City's Silk Stocking District.

Wrong, Jason - steve is a renter AND an owner. Just nowhere near LIC.

My views on individual responsibility are much more compassionate than your elitist nonsense.

Set aside the fact that I can get to the UES from LIC just as quickly, or more quickly, than you from PCV, your insistence on insulting other peoples' neighborhood is just obnoxious and silly, and you base it on your child going to private school on the UES. Wow.

That's totally off-base, LICcomm ... Long Island City insults itself.