A 50-Story Office Tower in Queens?

[matt3303]

My friend said he read a few days ago in the paper that there was a plan for a 50-floor office tower near the Citigroup (in Queens), and it would be equal or slightly taller. Of course I was excited and asked if he was mistaken it for the new apartment towers, he said no and told me he was 100% sure about what he read. Now I never heard anything at all about this and wondered if anyone else did. If it's true it's great news!

[Gulcrapek]

Well, there was an article or two mentioning the 15 story 30-30 Northern Boulevard, which would be by Citibank. That's probably it.

Not being pessimistic or anything, but I think he misread.

[TLOZ Link5]

He didn't, Gul. I know the article; it was in the Daily News a couple of days ago. It'll be on Queens Plaza—not Queens West—on the site of that ugly concrete parking garage.

[TLOZ Link5]

Here we go:

Speyer lands Queens bldg.

By LORE CROGHAN
DAILY NEWS BUSINESS WRITER

http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/521-parking_garage.JPG
Queens Plaza Municipal Garage is scheduled to be redeveloped.

Where is real estate mogul Jerry Speyer going now? He's going to Queens.

The city picked the owner of world-famous Rockefeller Center and the Chrysler Building to build a mammoth tower of at least a million square feet at the Long Island City site where Queens Plaza Muncipal Garage stands.

Speyer won the right to build the office tower at Jackson Avenue and Queens Plaza South, which could be tall enough to rival Citigroup's 50-story skyscraper nearby.

Speyer's partner is the Modell family, which leases 200,000 square feet of retail space inside the ugly concrete parking facility.

Finding a builder to buy the city-owned site has been important to the Bloomberg administration. It wants to promote economic growth in Long Island City, where a 37-block area has been rezoned for high-rise development.

An earlier choice for the job, Louis Dreyfus Property Group, backed out last year.

"The city is committed to developing central business districts outside Manhattan, and Long Island City and Downtown Brooklyn are two of the keys to that development," city Economic Development Corp. spokeswoman Janel Patterson told the Daily News.

Speyer, who's trying to get the city Department of Transportation to serve as a 250,000-square-foot anchor tenant for the project, declined to comment.

He and the Modells were chosen for the assignment over Bruce Ratner, who made his mark by developing MetroTech in Downtown Brooklyn.

The boroughs beyond Manhattan are unfamiliar terrain for Speyer. He owns trophy properties from Berlin to Buenos Aires to Fifth Avenue.

"He's a major player," said Gail Roseman, a Sholom & Zuckerbrot Realty broker who's also president of the Queens Economic Development Corp. "This is confirmation that Long Island City can really happen."

Unlike Speyer, the Modells go way back in Long Island City. Until the mid-1990s, their sporting goods retailing business was headquartered on Vernon Boulevard. They've owned property across from the parking garage for more than 20 years.

Their site could be developed in tandem with the garage to create a huge office campus - a prospect that has business boosters in the neighborhood cheering.

"We believe the development of the garage will jump-start the revitalization of Queens Plaza," said Gayle Baron, president of the Long Island City Business Development Corp. "It's a real positive."

Originally published on September 26, 2003

©The New York Daily News 2003

[Fabb]

Good news.
I'm not sure the timing is right, but I've always thought that Citigroup needed a companion. Well, at least one.

[NoyokA]

Tishman Speyer has an admirable, long history as a New York developer. Their most recent acclimates are commisioning Foster for the Hearst Tower, and Philip Johnson for the Chrysler Center.

And Tishman Speyer was behind the Messetrum and the revivification of Frankfurt. In addition Tishman Speyer is one of the very few developers who still builds speculatively. Their involvement could easily jump-start Queens Plaza as an extension of Midtown East.


Louis Dreyfus and The Arete Group had proposed a grouping of tall highrises, the tallest would have been where the garage is:

http://a.1asphost.com/guide/MidtownEast.jpg

Following the events of September 11th, Louis Dreyfus had pulled out of its involvement in all of its properties.

Im also happy that this will not further the Ratner monopoly, and a monotony of regrettable architecture.

[Fabb]

Angles and slanted roofs everywhere...
Well, it's not inelegant.

The 50-story building shouldbe much more slender, especially if it contains only one million square ft of offices.

[JD]

Since my tendency to print doom-n-gloom posts has been well-noted, I hate to do this, but here goes: for how many years has Queens been touted as "the next big thing"? The Citigroup Tower is fifteen years old and its neighbors are a bunch of warehouses and derelict structures. Queens West was supposed to be the next Battery Park City -- twenty years ago.

If Tishman Speyer is really going to get busy, more power to him. But I won't hold my breath waiting for that abomination of a garage to come down next to Queensboro Plaza.

[ZippyTheChimp]

At least that incongruous avatar is gone.

[JD]

It's true...my Elmo avatar has crossed over to the land of wind & ghosts.

I see that posters on this revamped forum some pretty fab avatars. I'm jealous; I'll have to get hip.

[matt3303]

Wow! This is awesome! Let's hope this trend continues, but I think the area is better suited for residential. Also, I'll try to get more info about what the final rendering looks like.

[TLOZ Link5]

Development takes time, anyway. It took about two decades for Battery Park City to reach its full potential, didn't it?

Edward, is it possible that you could add some more avatars? I miss JD's Elmo.

[yanni111]

this is great, i cant wait till they get rid of that FUGLY parking garage!! everytime i look at that thing i just feel bad, its also a perfect location for an office building with the N,R,E,F,G,V,7 subway lines right there!

[Kris]

Development Plan for Queens Plaza Municipal Garage (http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/lic/lic8.html)

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/gif/lic/lic8a.jpg

The zoning:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/gif/lic/lic1b.jpg
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/gif/lic/lic6a.jpg

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/lic/lic1.html

[DominicanoNYC]

Are you talking about a site where there are 3-4 cranes.

[Agglomeration]

The Citibank isn't working as well as it should, but only because it's a lone wolf in a sea of sheep LOL.

[JonY]

Is Manhattan busting at its 'development seams'? With news such as this and the major developments over in Jersey City (although J.C. is a seperate entity altogether)......... :?:

[TLOZ Link5]

In a sense, yes. Manhattan is straining its potential as it's an island and has nowhere to go but up. Developing sub-central business districts is not a novel idea. London has certainly done that, and continues to do so.

[Fabb]

... as well as most European and Asian big cities.
I think it's a good thing.

[JonY]

Sydney and Melbourne are used to developing satellite C.B.D.'s out of the main downtown areas too. So it's not particularly novel and yeah, it is a good thing. Can make a city much more interesting.

I believe that many companies and government departments on Manhattan use the sub-centrals as back-ups re in case of blackouts (recent history) & for computer info. saving, as well as having representative offices for the burroughs.

It does sound like Queens is ripe for the picking. If this development gets off the ground then it could set a positive precedent (as long as historical buildings of any objective noteworthyness are 'saved' in the process :) ).

[billyblancoNYC]

This should have been done years ago. LIC, Flushing, and Jamaica in Queens, Downtown Brooklyn, the North Shore of SI, and the South Bronx all should be developed, both as back offices, etc. for large companies and for small business that can't afford Manhattan rents. These areas should also have the right zoning so that developers can build tall. Forget all the crap the NIMBYs wil bitch about.

Take Flushing, for example. If you go there, there's developments on every block. Old single family houses are all being torn down for 6-10 story apartment buildings. It's actually pretty impressive. But if the place was rezoned to say 500ft or so, builders would build that tall, I almost guarantee. Plus, this area should be viewed as a mini Shanghai and should be marketed for office development to Asian-American companies and Asian companies that have/want a presence in the US.

I hope the city doesn't mis-step with this, or JC will be even more developed.

[TLOZ Link5]

So long as we're talking about development in that area, does anyone know what they're building right next to the 7 Line, right at the approach to the Vernon-Jackson station?

[tmg]

Yes, rumors of this area's rebirth have long been premature. But there are several reasons for optimism now:

1. Recent upzoning of the new LIC central business district makes high-density office development easier. As Jersey City demonstrates, there is significant demand for lower-cost space close to Manhattan.

2. Queens West is moving forward, as noted on another thread.

3. The surrounding low-rise neighborhoods (stretching from Sunnyside to Astoria) are seeing an influx of creative types being priced out of Williamsburg and elsewhere in Brooklyn. This is helping to transform the character of these neighborhoods.

4. The Queens Plaza subway station is getting a major face-lift.

5. The LIRR East Side Access project is underway. A little-noted aspect of this project is the construction of a new LIRR station at Sunnyside Yards, with connections to the Queens Plaza station. This station will serve LIRR trains, as well as some Metro-North New Haven Branch trains. It may also serve New Jersey Transit and Amtrak trains, if those agencies decide to stop there.


P.S. TLOZ - I believe that building is a LIRR maintenance facility being built in conjunction with the East Side Access project.

[emmeka]

I remember seeing that design somwhere for queens but it was a long time ago. Maybe they're trying to develop a clump of buildings lik in jersey?

The citicorp centr has been on its own for ages.

[Jeffreyny]

Are you talking about a site where there are 3-4 cranes.

No, the cranes are south of LIC. This location is at Queensboro Plaza.
The garage has yet to be torn down..unfortunately!
If you know Queensboro Plaza, the location is directly across the street of the newly renovated building Metlife now occupies.

[Kolbster]

Wow, that is pretty good to hear that some development is on the rise...does anyone have renderings???

[NoyokA]

Wow, that is pretty good to hear that some development is on the rise...does anyone have renderings???

Way too early to even think about that.