We said goodbye to Ten63 a little over a year ago now, and now finally we are seeing the next steps in the cycle of development.

Remember that great place?

Demolition is coming soon to the site, and early next Sprint is when the developers plan to start construction (the architect is Thomas O'Mara, someone we haven't seen in the hood before).

LICNYC took a look at that old beauty back in mid-2005. Apparently the site was about 3,000 sq ft with 8x buildable. It sold for about $4 million. The guys who got it intend to put up an 8 story, 30ish unit building. They kind of had to knock it down because of the way it was laid out. The bottom couple of floors are this huge entryway grand staircase -- the building was the Queens Borough Hall when it was opened back in 1902.

LIC really used to be the "capital" of Queens -- in 1922 they were debating where it should head, and in 1940 they finally moved in Jamaica-wards.

Posted by Amol at 11:00 AM | Permalink

Some of our favorite sites about Long Island City and environs:

* Joey in Astoria
* Queens West & Long Island City Discussion Board : QueensWest.com
* LIC Business Development Corporation
* LIC on Curbed

Posted by Amol at 10:50 AM | Permalink

Have fun ringing in the New Year. Now that we have so many bubbly locales here in the hood, time to choose where your bubbles will come from. LICNYC likes Vine Wine on Jackson for all the special, small grower champagnes they carry.

Check out their whole deal at vine-wine.com -- or just head over to Jackson Ave near 11th street.

There are alternatives, of course, like the very fine Vernon Wines and Liquors or the nice shop across from Communitea.

Hunterspoint Wines and Liquors

Posted by Amol at 07:52 PM | Permalink

LIC actually has two huge post offices - on 21st near PS1 is the federal style gem that looks like it was meant to serve all of Queens, and the other is the heavy-duty processing facility next to Tom Cat Bakery. People used to mail lots of stuff from LIC. Not so much these days.



The real peril round these parts is the package deliver -- 'Karen' doesn't like ringing the bell and then the lines to pick stuff up can get painful.



Pictured above - passport day (Thursdays).

Posted by Amol at 01:00 PM | Permalink

Pho Bac is next to Famous Singa's Pizza -- a Jackson Heights institution,

and one we have an LIC outlet for on Northern Blvd near the bridge and the

Pathmark.



Pho Bac, though, ain't pizza -- it's fantastic Vietnamese. LICNYC had the

beef pho. Wow. Lime and lime leaves make this beef and noodle soup

outstanding. And only $6.



Next door is a great Vietnamese supermarket with huge tanks of live fish and

butchery on site. We picked up a few soup bones for the dog -- $1.50 for

both. And of course, noodles and asian sauces galore.



All just steps from the Elmhust Blvd stop on your friendly V, R and G lines.

Posted by Amol at 09:55 PM | Permalink

ABC Carpet and Home made lots of noise back when it added to the alphabet soup of DUMBO. It even attracted lots of cool furniture specialists and antique dealers to the quarter.



Three years later - poof. Shows that Dumbo is all lofts, no life. Even Jacques Torres bigger, better incarnation is on the Manhattan side (Hudson St).



Bedroomy though it may be - the cranes are still humming in Dumbo.



So for the folks debating LIC vs. Wburg, keep in mind how things can unfold. LIC can be a great place to live, though a rare place to visit.

Posted by Amol at 07:38 PM | Permalink

There are lots of big boring buildings going up. Which are the most interesting?

Powerhouse

Discuss in the comments

Posted by Amol at 09:28 PM | Permalink

LIC is growing. It is becoming the part-Astoria, part-Midtown it always wanted to be.

Here, a gyro man in front of Citibank.

Posted by Amol at 04:14 PM | Permalink

The forums are a fun part of LICNYC, so we hope you use them.

One of the problems that plagues forums all over the web is "spam" -- links to viagra pills and stuff. So you have to become an authorized user in order to post on the forums. But anyone can read.

We have just totally overhauled them to make them way easier to set up and use. If you had trouble in the past, we hope those bugs are fixed. And if they aren't -- just email us at editor at licnyc.com.

Here is how to become a registered user:
1. Click on the link to register for the LICNYC forums
2. Enter a usename, email address and password
3. Wait for the LICNYC editor to approve your account (keeps spammers out)
4. Post away

Meanwhile, you can read what's new in the forums

Posted by Amol at 12:34 PM | Permalink

In various places around LIC and Greenpoint, LICNYC has been noticing these off-kilter everyday street installations.



Giant, wind-blown, hand-made.



Take a closer look at the world around you.

Posted by Amol at 10:31 AM | Permalink

In Sunday's paper, the NYT puffs up a strange "LIC vs. Williamsburg" debate that was being examined at QueensWest.com.

Which is better? Which is cooler? A silly debate! It's like comparing the East Village to Williamsburg. Or, worse: like comparing the Financial District to the Upper West Side. That is, they really are different.

Williamsburg has been happening for quite a long time, in an unstructured and free-wheeling way that the LIC zoning rules and existing building stock never really supported. Back in 1995, there was the L Cafe on Bedford, Domsies under the bridge, and lots of art school kids living in lofts etc.

LIC's path really depends on the big projects that have started going up due to city/state sponsorship. So the generally empty area (save a few patches of Vernon etc) are filling up to meet the needs of the Long Island-transplant, Midtown-office-job types who want to live here.

The kids above in McCarren Pool don't live here.

But there are some virtues that might drive you to LIC today:
* Wide open spaces. It really is pretty empty a lot of the time, while Wburg is crowded
* Better transportation. 7, E, V, G trains
* Close to midtown in case you actually work there instead of downtown or "in your studio"
* Some distance from unpleasant cultures of either Wburg/downtown or stuffy uptown types
* Solid community of shops, bars and restaurants to keep you in the neighborhood

Aside from that, many of its features are similar to Williamsburg
* lower cost than Manhattan
* great skyline views
* choice of new constructions (to buy) or more charming smaller buildings (to rent)
* lots of street parking
* parks and room to walk your dog
* generally quieter and tourist-free than Manhattan

See Gantry culture vs Burg culture for LICNYC's own take on the culture bit.

So it poses the question -- how can the Times even set up the debate this way? Williamsburg (NYC mecca for artists and musicians that has supplanted the East Village) vs. LIC (borderline Battery Park City crossed with west Chelsea).

Posted by Amol at 12:07 PM | Permalink

Near the LIC Crab House on Sunday night: a beautiful swan!

Posted by Amol at 10:24 AM | Permalink

Lots of great work up this weekend.

Posted by Amol at 08:23 PM | Permalink