Beat the Rezone Game Causes LIC Hotel Boom

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What can happen when the city tries to rezone a neighborhood, but the rezone takes a long time? In the case of part of Long Island City known as Dutch Kills the answer is: it leads to a hotel boom. Today's Daily News offers up a rundown on the eleven hotels--yes, eleven--that are going up as the city works on a rezone that would allow residential development, but ban tallish hotels. (Click on the image to see all the hotel goodness in detail.) One resident, who is apparently not a fan of the hotels says, "It's like fiddling while Rome burns. They're allowing all the hotels to come in and destroy the neighborhood they are trying to save." The city started working on the rezone almost three years ago. All the hotels have broken ground since then. There's some sense, though, that the developers will convert some of the hotels to condos. Or maybe they won't. There's a separate Japanese hotel boom underway on Jackson Avenue near Court Square that has nothing to do with Dutch Kills. Either that, or our tourist friends will be wandering around some far flung spots.
· Rezoning delay in Dutch Kills draws ire [NYDN]
· Dutch Kills=Hotel Land [OuterB]

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