Long Island City

27-19 44th Drive

27-Story, 168-Unit Mixed-Use Project Tops Out at 27-19 44th Drive, Long Island City

Construction on the 27-story, 168-unit mixed-use building under development at 27-19 44th drive, in the Court Square section of Long Island City, has topped out 282 feet above street level. Photos of the structure have been posted to The Court Square Blog. The news comes after construction was only up to the ninth floor in May. The latest building permits indicates the project, dubbed Watermark Court Square, measures 152,144 square feet. There will be 2,756 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, followed by rental apartments averaging 731 square feet apiece. The building’s residential amenities were listed in one of YIMBY’s earlier posts. Twining Properties is the developer, with Handel Architects designing. Completion is expected in the summer of 2017.


Long Island City’s Mixed-Use 29-11 Queens Plaza North, with Courtyard Marriott Hotel and Aurora LIC Residences, Opens Its Doors

The cores of dense cities work best when they mix a variety of functions, such as residential, commercial, or office. This mixing allows for a round-the-clock pedestrian presence, ensuring that the streets do not empty out at any point of the day. The concept is taken literally to the next level when two independent functions are stacked one on top of another within the same building, like roommates sharing a bunk bed. This effectively puts two buildings on the same plot without resorting to narrow towers with small floorplates. Although generally rare, mixed-use skyscrapers have made their mark upon Manhattan, starting with the famed Waldorf-Astoria, which combined hotel rooms at the bottom with apartments on top in 1931. Now, the city’s first major mixed-use tower has risen outside of Manhattan. The 31-story, glass-and-concrete slab at 29-11 Queens Plaza North in Long Island City, has seen construction virtually wrapped up at the time of this writing. Its lower 15 floors house the Marriott Courtyard Long Island City hotel, with the 135-unit residential complex called the Aurora sitting on the floors above.

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24-02 49th Avenue

New Owners Plan Commercial-Office Renovation at Seven-Story Property, 24-02 49th Avenue, Long Island City

Innovo Property Group and Westbrook Parters have acquired, for $195 million, the seven-story, 640,000-square-foot office-industrial building at 24-02 49th Avenue, in southern Long Island City. The purchase was financed with a $136 million mortgage, Commercial Observer reported. The building is nearly completely leased, with the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) occupying 480,000 square feet across five floors. The new owners plan to not renew NYCHA’s lease, which expires in 2020. The plan is to renovate the property to include modern and creative office space. The property is right across the street from the Hunters Point Avenue station on the 7 train and the Long Island Rail Road.


Ten-Story Hotel Over Halfway Up at 29-12 40th Avenue in Northern Long Island City

A hospitality haven is rapidly rising at the northern fringe of Long Island City, in an area that overlaps into Dutch Kills to the east and Ravenswood to the west. Despite its convenient location just minutes away from Midtown via subway, the neighborhood north of Queens Plaza was largely ignored by the city and developers for most of the 20th century. During that time, local street character ranged from quiet residential enclaves to fenced-off commercial and industrial facilities to seedy, crime-ridden nooks that the casual visitor best stay away from. Since Long Island City has become one of the city’s hottest neighborhoods, a dozen hotels sprung up within its northern portion, with several more currently in progress. Upon completion, the 10-story one at 29-12 40th Avenue, which will be run by a yet-to-be-announced operator, would bring 75 rooms to the booming neighborhood.

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