LIC Spot

It seems like the Food Cellar will be getting a little competition as our sources have informed us that a new supermarket will be coming to Hunters Point.

We’re being told that the 10,000 sq ft. market will be located at the new rental building next door to the Powerhouse and will be an independently owned supermarket.

Petunia is now known as “Tiny You”

We’ve just received word from a Real Estate company (a modern one) that a children’s boutique has leased the space at 10-50 Jackson ave. and should be opening up “soon”.

UPDATE: We’ve received news that the store was leased to Petunia (now known as Tiny You), a kid’s store that is currently in Sunnyside.

The space, as you all know, was the location where Chimney Cakes was located.

The newest condos in Long Island City at 47-34 11th St. (by 47th Rd.) are ready to sell (sorry, no rentals). And by the looks of it, they look like pretty high end apartments.

“The Bindery” is a 7 story building that will have studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms with balconies on many of them. Fitness center and rooftop terrace are included!

According to the Real Deal, the name “The Bindery” harkens back to book-binding factories that used to be in the neighborhood. Bibliophiles should like that residents enter through a library, not just some plain old lobby. The project has a nice location not far from the waterfront and Gantry State Park, plus it’s just a couple blocks from the LIRR and G and 7 trains. Any takers?

You can find more information at thebinderylic.com

via Curbed

We’ve just gotten word that the Hungarian cake shop “Chimney Cakes” has closed down.

We are always sad to see businesses close in LIC. But it was obvious that there was a lack of clientele.

Did you ever buy their Chimney Cakes?

Ok folks, start placing your bets again. This time it’s State Farm that’s moved to Jackson Ave, and that means this prime commercial space is available for something new and, may we say, different?

What do you think will open up on 48-13 Vernon Blvd? Place your bets!

Ever wonder how Long Island City’s modern transformation began? What it was like here just 3 or 4 years ago? Why was this area never developed 20 years ago instead?

The Commercial Observer has a interesting post on how it all started…and where it’s going.

Do you remember what it was like in LIC before the big change?

• 5,000 residential units
• 952 units for middle income housing
• 11 acres of parkland
• 1,100 desk school

photo via DNAinfo.com/Jeanmarie Evelly

LONG ISLAND CITY — Officials broke ground on Hunters Point South Monday, marking the first residential construction phase of the massive Queens development — and one of the city’s first waterfront projects to proceed post-Hurricane Sandy.

“The first homes of Hunters Point South will be among the first units built along our waterfront since Hurricane Sandy,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a groundbreaking ceremony Monday afternoon.

“Our administration has committed to not simply rebuilding the communities that Sandy hit the hardest, but to create a more resilient and sustainable city as well, and Hunters Point South will help us do both.”

The two buildings will rise at 1-50 50th Ave. and 1-55 Borden Ave. in Hunters Point, made up of 925 affordable housing units with several new design features to safeguard against potential future floods.

The mechanical equipment for both buildings will be stored on the second floor or higher, emergency generators will be kept on the roof and the exterior doors will be watertight, the mayor said.

“All the equipment is above ground,” he said, saying that plans for the building were adjusted after Superstorm Sandy struck this fall, forcing changes to how the city builds along the waterfront.

“Everybody always put them down in the basement because that was the most economic thing to do — anything above ground you could rent or occupy or sell, and so that was traditionally what had always been done.”

Read more at dnaInfo.com

In case you were curious, here are a few looks at what the medium-income housing, Hunters  Point South, will look like when it’s all said and done:

The zoning documents indicate that the structure will be a 37 story residential building of 627,960 square feet (a sliver of that at 13,766 square feet will be commercial). There will be 619 (down from 635 originally) apartments and 223 (down from 250 originally) enclosed parking spaces.

 

via queensnyc.com 

There’s a housing boom in the Court Square area of Long Island City, but many residents are also noticing a scarcity in amenities like supermarkets, pharmacies and other kinds of shops (except pet stores, of course).

Rockrose Development is in the midst of developing a few more residential high rises, but with that a promise of more retail shops.

The first will be a high-end 15,000-square-foot supermarket, to be built on the first floor of a planned 42-story residential tower called Linc LIC, at 43-10 Crescent St. The building’s 709 luxury apartments are slated to open this spring, with the supermarket to follow after.

In addition, the company purchased a row of buildings along Jackson Avenue — located behind the site of another one of its residential projects, a 975-unit building planned for 43-25 Hunter St. — which are being reserved for retail tenants.

via DNAinfo.com