Hasidic developers are slowly transforming the semi-industrial wasteland between Bed-Stuy and Williamsburg into a mixed-use residential neighborhood. The latest evidence comes from building applications for a hotel and synagogue at 484 Park Avenue, designed by ubiquitous architect Karl Fischer.
Long Island City is hot. If you want one gauge of how hot, consider that YIMBY has written close to two dozen stories about or involving Long Island City just this year. While many projects are speeding along, one project – 41-21 28th Street – is moving a little more slowly, as seen in photos sent to us by our friend Tectonic.
Ground floor work is currently underway for a six-story, mixed-use building at 387 Manhattan Avenue. The north Williamsburg project will feature retail, community, and residential functions. Upon completion, it will join the handful of similarly-sized buildings scattered around the rowhome neighborhood.
Kiumarz Geula, doing business as an anonymous LLC, originally filed applications for a six-story, 46,954-square-foot school building at 3458 Third Avenue, in Morrisania, back in December of 2012. Now, the same plans are being revived under William Leung’s Financial District-based Array Architecture Studio, which replaced Westchester County-based SWL Architect. The new building’s ground floor will host a lobby and administrative offices. There will be classrooms located on the second through fifth floors, a cafeteria on the second, and a gymnasium on the sixth. There aren’t any details concerning who would be attending the school, although the city’s School Construction Authority appears not to be involved, which means it could be private.
Foundation work kicked off in February for the 27-story, 168-unit residential building underway at 27-19 44th Drive, in the Court Square section of the Long Island City, and now The Court Square Blog reports the structure has since risen three stories above street level. The rapidly ascending 151,021-square-foot project, dubbed Watermark Court Square, will eventually host rental apartments ranging from studios to two-bedrooms. The residential units should average 730 square feet apiece and the ground-floor will feature 2,807 square feet of retail space. Amenities will include a rooftop terrace, a sky lounge, work lounges featuring meeting spaces, a garden, a café, and a fitness center. Twining Properties is the developer and Handel Architects is behind the design. Completion is currently expected in the summer of 2017.
