Aug. 31, 2016 By Hannah Wulkan
Long Island City is a hotbed for development, with new buildings and businesses popping up seemingly on a weekly basis.
One group took it upon itself to look back and see how the landscape and character of LIC has actually changed over the past ten years with the rapid gentrification of the area, including the addition of sprawling parks, a vibrant arts scene, and new high-rises drawing young professionals and families to the area.
RentCafe, a nationwide apartment search company, pinpointed eight developments (click for the specifics) that it saw as helping to reshape LIC, and examined how they have changed the area in last ten years and what stood in their stead before they were built.
One of the buildings that was a focus of the report was Two Gotham Center, a 22-story mixed-use development that now houses the NYC Department of Health and other retail businesses, as well as 180 parking spots.
It was completed in 2011 on the site of the former Queens Plaza Municipal parking garage, and has completely transformed the area, along with the luxury rental building nearby, 27 on 27th.
Others included the 2014 completion of Rockrose’s 709-unit Linc LIC in Court Square; TF Cornerstone’s 820-unit 4545 Center Boulevard in Hunters Point; and the 17-story Hilton Garden Inn by Queensboro Plaza.
This type of rapid development is not unique to these specific sites.
According to a LIC Partnership in a report from June 2016, there have been over 11,460 rental and condominium units completed in LIC since 2006, and there are more than 22,450 more units in the planning or construction phases of development.
There has also been a huge influx of businesses in the area, according to the LIC Partnership, with over 63,000 businesses operating in LIC with over 93,000 employees, including older tenants such as Citibank, which opened its building in Court Square in 1990, and newer corporations like JetBlue, which moved to new offices in LIC in 2012.
Hotels have also been a rapidly growing industry in LIC in recent years, with 27 currently operating, and 34 more under construction, which will bring the room count up to more than 7,500 hotel rooms in LIC. About eight years ago there was only one hotel in LIC.
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2 Comments
The post on September 1, 2:33 am is not myself or Mother. I enjoy all the new buildings and Mother and I keep trying to get one of the affordable units. It’s not that we’re poor; Mother’s bodywork sessions are strictly a cash business and she’s been very busy lately. Almost every day, she sends me out to get more of that AstroGlide bodywork oil…
The real MRLIC here not Harry Simmons (MRLIC) . I guess they are proud they gentrified (PRICED OUT) the locals who had enjoyed living in LIC. Shame on them and anyone who gentrifies a neighborhood anywhere.