Rendering (LICPost)
March 10, 2014 By Christian Murray
The public will be able to have its say next week on a proposed 140-unit apartment complex that is planned for the corner of 49th Avenue and 21st Street in Hunters Point.
Community Board 2 is holding a public hearing March 19 (see details below) in Long Island City that will allow residents to voice their views on the 12-story development that is planned for 11-55 49th Avenue.
Maddd Equities, a Floral Park firm, plans to start construction on the 140 apartment (28 to be affordable units) complex later this year. The development will also include 10,000 sqf. of ground-floor commercial/retail space and 100 accessory parking spaces.
Jorge Madruga, the chief executive of Maddd Equities, said in December that he anticipates that 50% of the units will be 2 bedroom apartments, with the remainder being split between studios and 1 bedroom units. There were no plans for 3 bedroom units at the time.
The site is currently used as a public parking lot.
However, Maddd Equities, which has developed 50,000 units across the city, needs a zoning change before it can start building.
The 5-sided lot has many peculiarities. On one portion of the site, the developer can build five times the size of the land area (FAR 5.0)— while on another segment, the developer can only build 2 times the lot size.
Maddd Equities wants the FAR to be 5.0 across the entire site. It also wants the Long Island City special zoning district to be extended a block to include its site—and also wants the site to be part of the outdoor café district.
These requests require the company to undertake the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), which typically takes about seven months. Maddd’s ULURP application was certified by the Dept. of City Planning in February and the public hearing on March 19 is the first part of the ULURP process.
The community board has already been in active discussions with the developer about the site.
Joe Conley, chairman of Community Board 2, said the site is currently in a desolate section of Hunters Point and many of the board’s questions have related to that.
He said that the board has been asking questions about street lighting and public safety. He said the board has also focused on the affordable housing component, space for artists and parking—since it would be displacing a public parking lot.
The community board will make a recommendation—based on the public hearing and its own findings– as to whether the developer should get a special zoning permit. Its non-binding recommendation is then forwarded to the Queens Borough Presidents office for review, before going to the City Planning Commission and the City Council for a vote.
If the plan is approved, Maddd Equities anticipates that the building would be completed by 2017.
DETAILS:
Wednesday: March 19
Time: 6:30 pm
Location:
Academy for careers in Television
1-50 51st Avenue
Auditorium
Site today (via google maps)
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11 Comments
Gentrification is so … mediocre.
Aristro-cation is where the real money is at, and LIC still has a way to go before we get into > $2000/sq ft deals. Well, if ever.
Once Aristro-cation gets started, then artists will be able to get their patrons. The “middle class” aren’t rich enough to truly fund artists.
While Tow went over the top to make his point, it is a valid one. Artists and the creative types are what make New York…New York. Along with people from the financial sector, tech, media, and so on. Unfortunately, the artists creative sector generally do not make enough to survive in this city. If we don’t do something to help maintain this group of people that bring culture and new ideas to our city we might as well become Houston.
I for one am very happy to see artists remain and move into our neighborhood. They bring energy, cutting edge art, and help make our neighborhood more desirable. Most importantly they add value to my real estate, so I am happy to have some of my tax dollars go to support their work/live space.
Brownsville, yeah. Know my diatribe sounds like it was posted from a bar, but the fact remains that artists have led the way repeatedly and now their presence has become institutionalized as a strategy to accelerate the development process, so now they’re actually invited. Not saying Queens West and the rest of it hasn’t improved the neighborhood.
Detroit should be the epi-center of the new artistic renaissance. I guess you got Kid Rock and that other rapper guy from 8-mile.
Hey Tow if you’re gonna go out of your way to insult people, at least make a point.
As already pointed-out, LIC does not need to strive for desirability – the population boom speaks for itself.
Perhaps you were thinking of Brownsville?
I won’t go into a nonsensical rant like you did, but I will point out that your point is moot because LIC is already gentrified thereby negating the need for more freeloading artists.
Have a nice day and enjoy getting robbed in Bushwick.
Tow- I was actually supporting artists by mocking the politicians who approved the destruction of 5pointz, but now are requesting artist space.
Unfortunately you let your emotions get to you, came up with this whole big sophisticated essay and made your point less legitimate by sounding like an a$$hole. Getting all excited doesn’t help the cause any, it just makes you look like the one who needs his ass woken up….permitted you approve.
Anthony D (born & raised NY’er)
“Why the hell would they need a dedicated space for artists?” (somebody logging in as “??”)
“Why do politicians feel the need to request dedicated artist space?” (here I quote “Anthony D.”)
Who are you people? You must be from out of town. Permit me to wake your ignorant asses UP. Because you know nothing. NOTHING about how to create a real estate juice-ball, even though in all likelihood you wish to benefit therefrom.
Jeebus, I’m not saying you’re stupid, which is quite possible, but at the least you’re supremely inattentive. Okay, let’s make the distinction between the transient state of ignorance and the more entrenched condition of stupidity.
Anyway, wake up and read the rest of this twice.
Artists are the honey in the damn flower. They make gentrification possible, which is the whole idea…Hello? Those other jerks are politicians, whatever that means. But they’re pretty damned happy when artists move into burned-out neighborhoods with no foreseeable future.
They let the artists do the renovations, plant the trees, create and support the precious coffee meccas, and replace the damn light bulbs in the hallways. When people mostly speak American, they make the place hip, which eventually translates to de$irable, and artists have been doing this since before you were born. Greenwich Village, Upper West Side, Soho, the East Village, Williamsburg, and, excuuuuse me—LIC.
Without under-capitalized artists pioneering these neighborhoods you’d be SOL. I’ve been here 30 years, paving the way for you smug, ungrateful bastards.
I’d buy the first round if you’d take off the ass-hats. You watch Bushwick hit the big-time, now that it’s full of artists. It was a wasteland, a shit-hole ghetto. Nobody wanted it. Now it’s famous like the freakin’ Rive Gauche or Kreuzberg.
Forget about it.
Have a Nice Day.
Are these condos or rentals?
Why do politicians feel the need to request dedicated artist space? They already green lighted the demolition of 5 pointz, now they’re trying to make nice?
LIC infrastructure is not up to par and cannot accommodate all of the new construction. 7 is closed on most weekends and beyond packed during the rush, not enough school seats, dirty streets, no parking…just to name a few.
Not to mention Sanitation took away most of the garbage cans in the area b/c they didn’t have a scheduled pick up.
” He said the board has also focused on the affordable housing component, space for artists and parking—since it would be displacing a public parking lot.”
Why the hell would they need a dedicated space for artists? Why don’t they make a space for astronauts and polotical theorists while they’re at it?