All stories about "Dutch Kills"

[Image courtesy of LIQcity]

Anyone that doesn't know where the heck Dutch Kills is, might recognize it when passing through Long Island City by the unusual amount of work there on hotels. Over the weekend, the Times offered another look at the weird Dutch Kills Dilemma: an announced intention to rezone the neighborhood that has led to one of the city's weirdest hotel booms beyond the confines of Gowanus. There are hotel plans on at least 14 sites within an eight-block area. The Dutch Kills Hotel Boom came about because of a 2005 City Planning proposal to rezone the neighborhood and clamp down on commercial construction. The trouble is that the review process for the rezoning hasn't even started and, in the meantime, developers have been playing Beat the Rezone and a lot of people think the hotels will be converted to condos or apartments down the road. The city says it's working really, really fast. Residents aren't seeing the speed, except of construction. Says one: "With all the delays, by the time we get our zoning, we most probably will have lost our neighborhood." Us, we can't wait to see the marketing pitches for hotels in Dutch Kills.
· For a Raft of New Hotels, the Sound of Grumbling [NYT]

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]