Out: Grimy Auto Repair Shops, Dingy Industrial Buildings And Dilapidated Private Houses; In: Glistening Office Buildings, Putting Greens And Super Bowl Parties

Bruce Ratner should have set his sights on Long Island City in Queens, where apparently they’ll build anything:

Changes are a-comin’ to the Long Island City skyline in the form of development that will transform neighborhoods once cluttered with grimy auto repair shops and underutilized industrial buildings into streets lined with towering residential units and glistening office buildings.

. . .

Dingy industrial buildings are being demolished or gutted to make way for glistening new condos or sprawling residential lofts, and recent groundbreaking ceremonies paved the way for construction of the $200 million, 15-story Citigroup Office Tower at Court Square Two, which will house the national headquarters for Citibank’s credit card division and branch banking business.

Some of the exciting new things planned include:

• “A 20-story tower with 120 condos, a running track and a swimming pool with a retractable dome at 45-56 Pearson St. on a site that housed the former Sternberger Warehouse parking lot and several dilapidated private houses.”
• “Four stories are being added to a century-old factory and former power plant at 50-09 Second Ave. which will boast 175 condos, a fitness center, a kids’ playroom and a screening room for Super Bowl parties and other affairs.”
• “A 17-story development dubbed the ‘Crescent Club,’ will rise at 41-17 Crescent St. just north of the Queensboro Bridge The development will feature 110 condos, a lap pool, a putting green and a landscaped back yard.”
• “Real estate mogul Jerry Speyer is coming to Queens. The city chose the owner of Rockefeller Center and the Chrysler Building to build a mammoth tower of at least a million square feet on a site where the Queens Plaza Municipal Garage now stands.”

All this change and yet still no laundromat within short walking distance.

Peter Cooper Village And Stuyvesant Town To Replace Park Place And Broadway As Most Sought-After Real Estate Pieces

Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town could be yours . . . for five billion dollars:

Metropolitan Life is putting Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village — a stretch of 110 apartment buildings along the East River — on the auction block.

With a target price of nearly $5 billion, the sale would be the biggest deal for a single American property in modern times. It would undoubtedly transform what has been an affordable, leafy redoubt for generations of Manhattan’s middle class: teachers and nurses, firefighters and police officers, office clerks and construction workers.

MetLife, one of the largest life insurers in North America, said in July that it might sell the two complexes, which it built nearly 60 years ago with government help. It has hired a broker, who started registering bidders last week for the 80-acre property along First Avenue between 14th and 23rd Streets.

Behind the scenes, the sale has already drawn interest from dozens of prospective buyers, including New York’s top real estate families, pension funds, international investment banks and investors from Dubai, according to real estate executives, even though the marketing book will not be released to bidders until next week.

. . .

Already there are signs that bidding will be feverish. As one executive involved in the sale put it, “This is the ego dream of the world: 80 acres, 110 buildings, 11,000 apartments, covering 10 city blocks in Manhattan.”

According to several bidders, the list of buyers who have signed up includes the most active developer in New York City, the Related Companies; one of the largest landlords, Glenwood Management; Tishman Speyer, which controls Rockefeller Center; two publicly traded real estate companies, Archstone and Vornado; the international bank UBS; and the Blackstone investment firm, as well as the Rudin, Durst and LeFrak real estate families.

Given the size of the deal, buyers are expected to team up. “You’ll see some interesting people stepping up to the plate for this one,” said William Rudin, whose family owns about 2,000 apartments in New York.

Always Poised But Never Actually Burgeoning

Saying that Queens Plaza may be in the midst of a renaissance may be premature:

When Metropolitan Life Insurance Company first brokered a 20 year deal in 2001 to move into Long Island City — in exchange for $26.2 million in city tax and energy incentives — it was heralded as a pioneering move sure to bring about a renaissance in the seedy Queens Plaza area. The insurer is now in talks to rent a large block of pricey office space in a building across from Bryant Park in Manhattan, according to a report in Monday’s Crain’s New York Business.

The reported deal is fueling speculation that some or all of the approximately 1,700 employees could be relocated.

. . .

MetLife won’t confirm the move. A spokesperson for the company said Wednesday they would not comment on “speculation in the marketplace.” But Queens leaders are already reacting. Borough President Helen Marshall placed a call to the company’s president and also implored the Mayor’s Office to do what they could to keep MetLife in Queens.

The large brick building on Queens Plaza North, at the base of the Queensboro Bridge, is an old horse drawn carriage and Rolls Royce manufacturing plant, which was renovated in 2001 by the owner, Brause Realty Inc. It is located at a bustling intersection, where several trains pass through both overhead and below ground.

Employees complain that the neighborhood is less than ideal. While there are several small delis, Chinese restaurants, a Quiznos, a Subway and a pizza parlor all within a few blocks, it lacks any upscale dining or outside seating. At least two strip joints are visible from the building’s main entrance.

“I think the neighborhood’s pathetic,” said Liz, a systems administrator for MetLife, who wanted only her first name used.

Other workers out on their lunch breaks complained about the lack of outdoor spots to sit and relax, the lack of shopping and dining, and the prostitutes who come out after dark. Liz added that the neighborhood problems were underscored by the July blackout, when the building lost power and employees were sent home.

“This should be their cue to pack up and leave,” she said, adding that it never would have happened in Manhattan.

Still, Queens Plaza boosters are hopeful:

Despite employee complaints, business and political leaders maintain that the area is poised to burgeon.

Citibank’s second tower is slated to open in a year and a half, the United Nations Federal Credit Union is also set to open in January, and the recently completed Queens Plaza building contains 66 condominiums as well as retail space.

Andrew Ebenstein, president of the Long Island City Business Improvement District, estimates a total of a million square feet of commercial space and 24,000 units of housing will open in the next 18 months.

All this will help the area reach what he terms “critical mass,” the point where retailers and restaurants will begin flocking to the neighborhood and it will take off on its own.

“You’re going to have several thousand people who either live or work in Long Island City who need a place to have lunch or shop,” Ebenstein said.

Councilman Eric Gioia (D Sunnyside) agreed. “It’s pretty clear Long Island City has reached a positive tipping point. We are in the midst of a real economic, residential and cultural boom.” He added that he would love MetLife to stay and share in the growing prosperity.

Location scout: Queens Plaza.

If It Ain’t Broker, Don’t Fix It

After shocking, revealing the broker business’s seemy underbelly and coming to terms with the horrible truth about the industry — all the while creating a stir — Brian Carter now finds some middle ground in pointing out who the real chumps are:

It’s crucial to separate the winners from the losers as early as possible. The winners are hard to come by and more difficult to spot. The losers, on the other hand, often announce themselves quickly; sometimes seconds into a conversation.

“Yeah, uh, hi. Do you have any no-fee apartments?” It still happens, and it still drives me crazy. The moment this question is asked I know I’m dealing with a complete idiot. It’s no crime to look for a no-fee apartment, but why call a broker? You may as well ask if I have any free haircuts, or if I’m giving out free backrubs. I picture this same caller asking a bartender if he has any no-fee beer.

You want a no fee apartment? Call a landlord. If you don’t know any landlords try asking a super. When that doesn’t work, pick up a paper and hit every no-fee apartment you can find, but get there early. If all else fails, call me, but at that point, expect to pay a fee.

“Yeah hi, I’m looking for a two bedroom in the West Village with a large living room. I need a doorman for packages, because I travel a lot, and the second bedroom is essential because my family likes to visit.” This wouldn’t be a terrible request, except that they can only afford a one bedroom without the doorman, and with the money saved by renting a smaller place, their family could stay in the penthouse at the Ritz-Carlton, and have a better time.

P.S. Don’t miss Carter’s Rental Dementia blog for more dispatches from the other side . . .

Location, Location, Location

The Times takes readers on a tour of the worst-located apartments ever:

Even if there were not pigeons roosting in a front-yard coop and Roma tomatoes ripening at the gate, it would be fair to say that, in an otherwise industrial section of Jamaica, Queens, Kathy Lebron’s home sticks out. The green shingled two-family home at 148-07 95th Avenue is the only house on the block.

Oh, and the giant cement tanks from the adjacent masonry yard that sit next door: those are not just the neighbor’s, they are the landlord’s.

“He’s a really nice landlord,” Ms. Lebron said about Gerardo Mastronardi, who owns Queens Ready Mix, at 148-01 95th Avenue, as well as 148-07. Still, she said, renting next to a cement yard is challenging, even for a house that otherwise looks like it belongs in the country.

“I don’t keep the windows open at all,” Ms. Lebron, 37, said. “There’s just a layer of dust over everything. It’s noisy from all the trucks. You have to clean constantly.”

The dust and noise might be a hassle (talking outside is impossible without pauses during truck traffic) but the Lebrons are paying private school tuition for Amanda and Alyssa. They have decided to put up with it for the time being. The landlord said the rent is $1,000.

“Something in Florida would be nice,” Ms. Lebron said wistfully.