Location: Maspeth is bordered by Ridgewood and Eliot Avenue to the south, Woodside and Maurice Avenue to the north, Sunnyside and 48th Street to its west, and Elmhurst and Middle Village, 74th Street to the east.
What you’ll find: A huge boon to this community is the Maspeth Chamber of Commerce, which offers local businesses free listings on their website (www.maspethchamberofcommerce.org), discounted advertising space in the Savings Week Guide, provides dialogue with other business owners, and offers interaction with local police, Community Board 5, the Queens Chamber of Commerce and other community groups.
There is also the popular RGMVM Little League, Frontera Playground and Frank Principe Park, an 8.9 acre plot with baseball fields and basketball courts along Maurice Avenue, that was named after the former chairman of Community Board 5 - dubbed Mr. Maspeth - and who engineered the park’s $2,338,000 renovation, which was completed in 1996, before he passed away in May of 2004. Then there is the Metropolitan Oval, a popular soccer field for local club teams, on 60th Street, the Self-help Maspeth Senior Center on Grand Avenue and Maspeth Town Hall on 72nd Street.
Schools: Located in District 24, Maspeth is home to P.S. 9; P.S. 58, School of Heroes; P.S. 153 Maspeth Elementary School; I.S. 73, The Frank Sansivieri Intermediate School; and the private high school, Martin Luther. It is also in close proximity to Christ the King, the Catholic school known for its nationally ranked girls and boys basketball teams.
Commute: Although there is no subway that runs through Maspeth, the QM 24 and 24W express buses, which run along Eliot Avenue, take residents into Manhattan, the M subway line is available in nearby Ridgewood, with the 7 train in Sunnyside. Residents can also take the Q58 (east) and Q59 (east) to Queens Boulevard for the R, V or G trains. The Long Island Expressway is the main highway that services the area.
Neighborhood Life: Above all, Maspeth is cherished for its rural and small town USA feel. “It’s just a great area for people to raise their families,” said Anthony Nunziato, vice president of the Maspeth Chamber of Commerce and owner of Enchanted Forest, a flower shop in the area. “Each generation wants to stay. They all want to stay.”
Because of that, the area gives off a homespun vibe, with its local merchants and community-owned restaurants and stores lined along Maspeth’s busiest section, Grand Avenue.
Housing: Although the real estate bubble, as Tom Macaluso, owner of Macaluso Realty (they specialize in Maspeth), put it, is no longer growing, it has become stable, with asking prices at an all-time high. Single family homes are selling for up to $800,000, with an average price of $500,000, while two-family homes are going for an average of $650,000, with new-construction homes up over $1 million.
“There are a lot more homes for sale than there have been in the last few years,” Macaluso said. “So the shift has gone from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market. Properties are staying on the market longer.”
Still, Macaluso says, interest in this neighborly area hasn’t waned. “Generally, I don’t need to sell the neighborhood,” he emphasized. “Families come to me looking for Maspeth homes. It’s like a good fishing hole. You don’t need to tell too many people about it, because they [already] know about it and desire it.”
