Friday, September 26, 2008

BSA approves CUNY's LIC dorm

A new 67,000-square foot combined student residence, art gallery and residential building in Long Island City is a step closer to becoming a reality.

12-story CUNY/residential project gets green light

With Tuesday’s city Board of Standards and Appeals approval of seven zoning variances at 5-11 47th Ave., developers of an ambitious multi-purpose project have the green light to build tall in a neighborhood that’s quickly getting some height.

The board voted unanimously this week to waive building height restrictions for a 12-story residential complex, a six-story residence building for graduate City University of New York students and office space for the Queens Council on the Arts.

The approval comes more than a month after a contentious BSA meeting, with local residents voicing strong objections to the planned height and bulk of the development.

The proposed development includes 6,000 square feet of combined gallery and office space for QCA, currently based in Forest Park — far from the borough’s cultural epicenter in L.I.C.

LIC is Queens' cultural epicenter? Maybe 10 years ago. Now the artists were forced elsewhere.


Anonymous said...

Great.More like a Manhattanville in a very monoculture "new" area.

Anonymous said...

Why not relocate the Willets Point junkyards here too!

Time to rename this place
Long Island Shitty!

Can't wait for those CUNY students
to empty their bladders on the sidewalks after a weekend "kegger"!

Anonymous said...

Where did the Queens artists relocate to?

Anonymous said...

So why do we have zoning laws that prevent high buildings in certain parts of Hunters Point if the BSA is going to disregard them and approve a building that is out of compliance? It has now set a precedent and there will now be more requests made. The whole point of the zoning was to prevent a canyon effect on the side streets that have low rise houses. The Queens Council on the Arts is a joke and there aren't many artists here anymore . They can't afford to live here. One of the great things about HUnters point is that thre is DAY LIGHT all day long. Last saturday I sat on 48th all day for the craft fair and was in sun for the whole day. But when I looked south to where the Highrises are there was shade from noon on. My neighborhood is being destroyed!

Anonymous said...

See above for Archie Bunkers bitter about luxury highrises in LIC.

Anonymous said...

See above for jerkwater hipster transplant with no sense of community and/or overdeveloper troll comment about so-called Archie Bunkers.

Anonymous said...

Does CUNY really need dorms?

Let's see who actually ends up living there.

Anonymous said...

you crappyites are all the same

you dislike development so long as your home or school or church or synagogue is already in existence.

i am going to laugh at you as you get old and there are no assisted living facilities for you to live in because you were not out there advocating for more development where it is needed.

we will see then how much you want new development.

in the meantime, us young folks will have wonderful homes to live in and will be focusing uopn creating senior living communities for ourselves as we age

Anonymous said...


In your editorial you state that "all the artists have already left LIC"

Where did they go?

Anonymous said...

They went to Brooklyn and the Bronx.

Anonymous said...

This exposes how hollow the BS is with diversity.

Immigrants are being pushed out of Hunters Point. It is the only community in Queens becoming less diverse.

What a good place to put a celebration of Queens Arts.

It shows that development trumps anything in Queens, even tweeding agendas.

Anonymous said...

The artist did not go anywhere. They just dont live within 2 blocks of the East River.

Anonymous said...

The above poster mentioned something about assisted living. In all the development that has been done there is ONE I repeat ONE building that was built for seniors and it has a waiting list of several hundred people. They had to build it but only one and there is no incentive to build more. that is why there is only luxury highrises. I don't see anyone advocating for assisted living even though the poster says "us young folks will have wonderful homes to live in and will be focusing uopn creating senior living communities for ourselves as we age" What makes you think that there aren't people who want that now? It isn't development that people are against, it is the rapid development of luxury housing both rental and condo's with out consideration to the infrastructure. Certainly no senior I know could afford to live in any of the new buildings and they are on the waiting list to get into the current one.

Anonymous said...


Looks like many of these overpriced shoddily built condos are sitting around unsold!

Noticed a lot of "FOR RENT" signs replacing "FOR SALE" signs lately!

A portent of economic woes for those greedy "developers" who bit off more a little more than they could chew.

rowdy CUNY "students" and section #8 housing coming soon (cough, cough, cough, not to mention existing record breaking air pollution stats).

Sounds like an idyllic neighborhood to buy into !

You're the real Archie Bunker here annon #5, pushing your outmoded narrow minded real estate investment pitch in the midst of the economic status Quo.

Anonymous said...

Hey bub, like you're not going to grow old and croak someday.

No...don't tell've discovered the fountain of youth
in LIC!

I've just past 45
with a long way to go yet
(and my mortgage is already paid off)!

Start thinking food stamps fella!

You're about to experience "commission collapse".

Nobody's buying your sales agent BS or, more importantly, your condos