Google is an ambitious company, but are they flying a little off the handle by opening up their Street View mapping feature for Williamsburg and Long Island City? The look of both neighborhoods changes completely every three months or so in these development hot spots, as new buildings climb toward the sky and others get completed. Should Google have waited before sending out their platoon of roving camera cars to snap pictures of these 'hoods? Pictures that now, because it's Google, are outsiders' definitive views of these areas? Perhaps, but it's not like the market is going to collapse in the next couple of years and developers will back off. (Right? RIGHT??? Oh God somebody please tell us if it is!) But since the service is live, we decided to dial up some of Williamsburg's and LIC's most-hyped new developments, just to check up on how recent Google's photos are. Our assessment: not bad, but Google should probably pony up for a new round of photos in a year or so.
· Google Maps [maps.google.com]
HARLEM—After a bit of backlash at new 123rd Street condo development The Dwyer, we knew it was only a matter of time until we heard from a customer again, especially after word came through that appliances had been delivered. Folks, we love a happy ending: "Last week I got the opportunity to walk through my finished apartment at the Dwyer. Must admit I was a little worried the quality would not be there since they had taken what seemed like forever to finish. Luckily my fears were totally unwarranted. Like any new construction there where a few small issues but nothing to lose sleep over. I've attached some pics of the finished product. It's been a long and winding road but it looks like I'll finally be calling 123rd and St. Nicholas home." [CurbedWire Inbox]
LONG ISLAND CITY—Over on the Queens West waterfront, the Jesuscondo known to mere mortals as The View is enjoying a "friends and family" opening, according to a tipster: "I was walking along Center Boulevard in LIC where the new Rockrose Building, The View, is being built. I look to my left a little and I see a glorious sales office open and ready to go. It's located in their rental building at 4720 Center Boulevard which is right on the water. The sales office is glass on all three sides and it faces the actual building that they are selling. Kind of sick. Plus the back conference room has glass that has, of course, beautiful views of Manhattan."
Those unfamiliar with Long Island City might think it's an industrial wasteland, given NYU's denouncement of the neighborhood as unworthy of a hostile university takeover. But how could an area not "developed enough residentially" give us such a sweet hangout? The above photos are of the huge landscaped deck at Rockrose's 4705 Center Boulevard (aka EastCoast 2) built on top of the luxury rental building's parking garage on the Queens West waterfront. When we last checked in, work was beginning on the communal lounge area/summer BBQ spot just off the indoor pool, and we must say it came out pretty nifty. But maybe that's just because we have a thing for orbs.
· EastCoast [Official Site]
· Curbed Inside: Long Island City's EastCoast 2 [Curbed]
Now that the cat has been let out of the bag regarding The View, Rockrose's Jesuscondo on the Long Island City waterfront, broker Andrew Fine is no longer sworn to secrecy about his trip inside the unfinished building, as well as other juicy details. So far, the most talked about design element is the terraces-upon-terraces-upon-terraces facing the Manhattan skyline on the southern end of the building. Well, here they are! Yum. Also, of the much-talked-about $1,100/sqft average, Fine says this: "Prices for 'The View,' for now at least, start just below $1000 per square foot. While the average may be at or above $1100 per square foot, none of the prices quoted take into account the outdoor space. Two-Thirds of the units will have outdoor space ranging from 64sf-1500sf." So there you go. Also, the only units that are stuck with eastern views into yucky Queens are corner units that also look at nonyucky Manhattan. The building's eastern glass façade is actually a windowed hallway. We've added some photos of The View's views (say that three times fast!) to the gallery above, as well as some older renderings of LIC's version of 15 Central Park West.
· "The View", LIC: Separating Fact From Fiction [A Fine Blog]
· EastCoast 3 Revealed: This View is Not a Scam [Curbed]
· Feeling LIC's Heat, Part IIII: Beast of the East Getting Glassed [Curbed]
On Sunday, at the New York Observer's Luxury Living showcase at the Puck Building, Rockrose will finally reveal renderings for the company's first condo project along the Long Island City waterfront, the EastCoast building that will either validate or ruin LIC. Except, oops, liQcity already got its hands on some of the images, marked up by a source who really doesn't want other brokers marketing units in the building. The name of the 184-unit building is, ahem, The View at East Coast by Rockrose. The project is designed by Handel Architects, and those early rumors of sky-high LIC prices seem to have panned out. 1BRs will start at $760,000, 2BRs at $1.2 million and 3BRs at $1.465 million. Often referred to as EastCoast 3 to differentiate it from Rockrose's rental buildings at Queens West, The View will boast jaw-dropping views (oh, now we get it) of Manhattan. And Roosevelt Island, if that's your thing.
· Eastcoast 3 debuts as The View; Rockrose broker fees paid to tenants [liQcity]
· Feeling LIC's Heat, Part IIII: Beast of the East Getting Glassed [Curbed]
· Checking In: EC3 & CB2 at Queens West [Curbed]
Broker-blogger Andrew Fine checks in with the Queens West chunk of Long Island City, where Rockrose's third EastCoast building (and first EC condo) is currently getting bricked. He writes:
The building will not be named "East Coast", but I am not at liberty to divulge the name of what is to be a high end condo project. There will be terraces o'plenty, incredible unobstructed views, and prices to start at "over $1000 per square foot and average $1150 per square foot" according to a reliable source. Sales for the building are expected to begin in the spring, although there are unsubstantiated rumors that Rockrose may be considering a late change to rentals.
Forget the rumors, because Rockrose has extremely high expectations for this 20-story building. While buildings like the Toll Brothers' nearby Fifth Street Lofts seemed to top $1,000/sf almost as if by accident, EastCoast 3 plans on marching right out of the gate with record-setting LIC prices. It's shaping up to be the ultimate test of the state of the New York City market: new construction with amenity overdrive, charging Manhattan prices for non-Manhattan real estate. Will it work? We're psyched to find out. And if you forget where EC3 stands in the grand scheme of Queens West, we snapped a picture of the model when we checked out EastCoast 2 for Curbed Inside.
FINANCIAL DISTRICT—On the ongoing demolition of historic 213 Pearl Street: "Work has moved to the rear of the building today. Two workers on the roof were using some sort of piercingly loud saw to slowly grind the roof off." Also piercingly loud: preservationists' anguished cries. [CurbedWire Inbox]
LONG ISLAND CITY—Reports are trickling in from Rockrose's 4705 Center Boulevard in Queens West, the luxury rental building recently featured on Curbed Inside. One tipster's bulleted list: "No Laundry because the card machines don't have a phone line. Current status - unknown; No facilities apart from Gym at set hours. Understood because they didn't have health and safety approve the facilities yet...despite tenants moving in November 1; Building work still going on in building to a certain degres; Apartments are really rather nice. Views are great, the windows block out a LOT of sound, so it's very peaceful; RCN doing a good job with cable setup. They are on site every day and have problems ironed out almost immediately." [CurbedWire Inbox]
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