Established in 1984,…
By Dustin Brown
Queens West, the 74-acre waterfront development project rising in Hunters Point, has chosen Rockrose Development Corporation to erect seven apartment buildings on the former site of the Pepsi-Cola bottling and canning facility.
Established in 1984, Queens West Development Corporation is a joint effort of the Port Authority and the economic development agencies of New York City and New York State to revitalize the Queens waterfront and ease the city’s housing shortage.
“We feel that this will create the critical mass of housing and mixed use that will make Queens West one of the most exciting and dynamic mixed-use waterfront developments in New York City,” said Deputy Borough President Peter Magnani.
While the seven buildings will add 3,000 rental apartment units to the New York City market, more than half of the 21.75- acre site will be devoted to open space, including a waterfront esplanade and a two-acre recreational park.
“The Elghanayans have a long and strong track record in Long Island City,” said Councilman Walter McCaffrey (D-Woodside), referring to the family that owns Rockrose. “They’re going to have the type of knowledge of Long Island City and its needs that are critical to make it a success.”
“We hope to work as closely as possible with the Long Island City community to make sure this project is something they’re going to be happy with,” said Jon McMillan, director of planning for Rockrose.
Despite the assurances from Rockrose and continued support for the project from Borough President Claire Shulman, Community Board 2 Chairman Joseph Conley said critical local voices have been repeatedly ignored since the legislation creating Queens West was approved in 1984.
“It’s out of character with the neighborhood,” Conley said. “They came in and tried to do this thing under urban redevelopment, claiming there was some kind of urban blight. Meanwhile, Long Island City is one of the most stable industrial places in New York City.”
Marketing for Queens West appears to tout the development as a detached arm of Manhattan rather than a Queens waterfront community, focusing on its proximity to Grand Central Station, its view of Manhattan, and the tight housing market across the river. As Rockrose President K. Thomas Elghanayan put it, “We view this site as an extension of Manhattan living.”
“There’s so much crowding in Midtown that it’s obvious it’s going to expand to Queens West,” said Rockrose spokeswoman Kathleen McMorrow. “They thought this is where they’d want to be. There are spectacular views, fine secure, lovely buildings— they felt it was a perfect complement to their portfolio.”
The property is 96 percent owned by Pepsi-Cola, which closed its bottling and canning operation on the site two years ago. Before agreeing to sell the property, which makes up the northernmost segment of Queens West, Pepsi-Cola stipulated that the developers must maintain the Pepsi sign that has illuminated the East River since 1936. The sign will be remounted on the side of a parking garage, still peering across the water toward the United Nations building.
Construction will begin in 2003 for the first building, which will be designed by Arquitectonica, a Miami-based architectural firm responsible for the iconoclastic Miami high-rises made famous in the 1980s television series “Miami Vice.”
Queens West will eventually be made up of 15 residential buildings on the north and south sides of the 74-acre property, which will be linked by a commercial core with 2 million square feet of office and retail space.
The designation of Rockrose is the third major announcement in as many months for Queens West, which has seen only one residential building to completion since it was founded in 1992.
Citylights, a 522-unit luxury cooperative apartment complex, was opened to tenants in 1997 and since then, has stood as the only visible sign of the development on the East River.
Although AvalonBay Communities was chosen by Queens West to develop three new residential units the following year, they only broke ground on the first building three months ago.
Magnani attributed the delay to a lack of funding.
“We needed funds for infrastructure — waterfront park development, roads, sewers, water lines,” he said. “The city and the Port Authority came through by pumping more infrastructure funds into the project, and that’s what jump-started it.”
December’s groundbreaking for AvalonBay was followed shortly by the January announcement that LCOR would develop 13.5 acres of waterfront property into more than 2 million square feet of commercial space. The Rockrose announcement last week puts three Queens West projects currently under construction or in development.
“We wanted something that would give Queens an economic boost, and a residential and commercial development boost, while fitting in with the community’s vision for their waterfront,” said Queens West spokesman Eric Mangan.
Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 154.
