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I currently live in a high-rise doorman building near the east-river waterfront in Long Island City, on Center Blvd.
My wife and I rather enjoy living in newish towers. We are happy to pay a premium to live in a building that has nice full-size appliances, well-equipped gyms, pet friendly, large closets, is close to manhattan, etc. That said, our current area has filled up, and rents are going up quite a bit (looks like $3k plus for 1 bedrooms, with balcony/terrace $3.5k plus).
In order to save some bucks (we make good money, but I'll move to another hood with similar lifestyle to save several thousand per-year if it makes sense), I've noticed newer buildings in queensboro (still called Long Island City, but it seems rather separate to me), are quite a bit cheaper. One of the newest, qlic, is advertising rents at 2.3k, for example.
I'm wondering if anyone has thoughts on living in queensboro. I've read some other threads on here, and they're relatively light on details. That area appears to be gentrifying, but it still seems rather dead at night. I'm not seeking a lively party atmosphere, but having a few people on the streets and feeling like a occupied neighborhood would be nice.
Does it look like restaurants, grocery stores, and more will keep moving into the area? Alternatively, is there another spot that people would suggest looking? The main factor, aside from what I've mentioned is commute. My wife works in the UES, and I work in Flatiron.
That place was supposed to be gentrified by a horde of mustached fixie riding hipsters pouring over the bridge from Williamsburg "any day now!" 15 years ago when I moved to 35th Ave nearby. Not surprised to see that it basically skipped the "arts community for the young" phase and went straight to condo dwelling yuppies sort of looking at each other on the street as if to say, "that's it? this is hip living? I could have stayed in New Rochelle".....
You clearly want a full service building with amenities like a hotel. Try the QLIC, Packard, Crescent Club, and 27 on 27. Those are all high end and I believe are all rent stablized so your rent should never exceed 5% during lease renewals. Be advised that the area is light in stores. All the stores appear to be at Vernon Blvd. With that said, there's tons of new buildings at Queensboro Plaza and it's only a matter of time before the stores open up...if you can wait that long. There's also a new building opening this summer called the QLIC and a 1 bedroom is 2,400.00. I believe they should be rent stablized as well.
The Packard 3 might be the most affordable in the area with hotel amenities. Best advice I can give you is " the less you spend in rent, the better". A realtor told me that once, but then again that's common sense.
LIC is a industrial area being converted into a residential area, so it doesn't have much of a community feel. There is a lot of construction right now being built which will take a while to complete. The area is being priced as a new and cheaper alternative to living in Manhattan. Great transportation, but watch out for the public housing near by in Queensbridge.
My favorite restaurant in LIC is Mu Ramen. For a cheaper alternative you should try Astoria along the N&Q train. It about 10 minutes longer train. My favorite restaurant in Astoria is Taverna Kyclades.
I don't get the big hoopla with Vernon Blvd. The street with stores didn't really intrigue me in any way. It's ashame the stores are taking a bit slow to open up at Queens Boro Plaza. You'd think with the massive LINC building, every retailer would die to open up a store there.
Yeah, it is near the Vernon Blvd exit on the 7 train. The restaurant is a bit pricey for ingredients they are using, but I liked the quality of the food and general atmosphere.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NYCLotteryGurl
I don't get the big hoopla with Vernon Blvd. The street with stores didn't really intrigue me in any way. It's ashame the stores are taking a bit slow to open up at Queens Boro Plaza. You'd think with the massive LINC building, every retailer would die to open up a store there.
Commercial real estate right now is more extreme than residential with the pricing. You can read about it in the New Yorker (see below). If I was to guess, a lot of landlord are charging retailer rent like the area is already gentrified and a lot of retailer don't think it worth the gamble to move in given the current foot traffic. Commercial lease can run from 5-20 years. There is talk about passing laws on rent stabilization for business.
I live in a high rise at Queensboro Plaza. For train access it is awesome; you have the N/Q/7 at Queensboro Plaza and E/M/R at Queens Plaza below, the F train a few blocks away (but that area gets a bit sketchier) as well as a bunch of different buses for Queens. If you need to get anywhere in the city the access is there, and you can easily hop on the E train to get to LGA or JFK as well. Personally, I think there is no better place for public transportation access.
That being said, there isn't much in terms of stores or restaurants (M. Wells steakhouse is all I can think of lol) but I have never felt unsafe around this area. There are a couple of nice and casual bars here- The Beast Next Door, Dutch Kills, and The Baroness Bar. I think with all the new buildings going up the next few years will make this a great place to live, albeit expensive.
Funny, I am moving from Queensboro to the waterfront right near where the water ferry is. I wish I could stay around here but it's getting too expensive.
Ironic. You'd think it be the reverse that the waterfront is more expensive cause of all the stores on Vernon Blvd. Either way, LIC is expensive no matter how you spin it unless you live at the 59th street projects. Those tenants have the best rent rates ever.....even though their neighbors are not the best.
Ironic. You'd think it be the reverse that the waterfront is more expensive cause of all the stores on Vernon Blvd. Either way, LIC is expensive no matter how you spin it unless you live at the 59th street projects. Those tenants have the best rent rates ever.....even though their neighbors are not the best.
I do a lot of my grocery shopping in flushing and I order everything else online. I find cost of living in Western Queens to be really expensive. It becomes difficult to support local business when they charge such a huge mark up due to their rent cost.
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