Long Island City's Waterfront Transforms Into 24/7 Community
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The waterfront in Long Island City, Queens, is transforming from a under-utilized area into a booming residential community. NY1's Real Estate reporter Jill Urban filed the following report.Once a dilapidated old waterfront, now the Hunters Point section of Long Island City, Queens is booming, developing and becoming a thriving community.
President Paul Januszewski of the Queens West Development Corporation says since development started back in 1997, the area has undergone a major transformation.
"This all used to be industrial waterfront, much of it abandoned. Now we have 10 acres of beautiful waterfront park land, five residential buildings, a public school and a lot more coming on the way," says Januszewski.
There are currently 2,600 units of housing, the K-5 public school and the park, but construction is well underway to expand this growing neighborhood even more.
"We have about $700 million of construction happening, four new residential towers. We’ve got a new public school starting this week, 600 seats. We’ve got three new acres of park land along with all the streets, utilities," says Januszewski.
By the time it is completed in 2013, the Hunter’s Point area will have 11 residential buildings, two public schools, a park and a magnificent public library designed by architect Stephen Holl. All that will bring retail and jobs, making it a full 24/7 neighborhood.
From a real estate perspective, Hunter's Point is creating quite a draw.
"We are seeing a tremendous amount of sales and lease-ups. In fact, our absorption rate is great. Our vacancy rate is maybe about 2-3 percent," says Mark Greenley, a sales director for Modern Spaces.
Greenley says many buyers and renters love that it is a brand-new waterfront community just minutes from Midtown Manhattan.
Hunter’s Point is just the first in the redevelopment of the Long Island City Waterfront. The city is also working to redevelop the area known as Hunter’s Point South, just down the road. It will also include about 5,000 housing units, retail, parkland and a school.
The first phase of construction on that project should be completed by 2014.