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Officials lured Amazon to New York with an extensive pitch, complete with four suggested neighborhoods. In exchange for 25,000 new jobs, Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio are offering Amazon nearly $3 billion in incentives. And while Amazon selected the Queens neighborhood of Long Island City as its new home, officials had proposed bringing Amazon’s campus to the Farley Building, 3 World Trade Center, Brooklyn Height’s Watchtower building, Bjarke Ingels’ The Spiral, and even Governors Island. — 6sqft
After conducting a yearlong search for a second home, Amazon has switched gears and is now finalizing plans to have a total of 50,000 employees in two locations, according to people familiar with the decision-making process.
The company is nearing a deal to move to the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens [...]. Amazon is also close to a deal to move to the Crystal City area of Arlington, Va., a Washington suburb, one of the people said.
— The New York Times
It looks like Jeff Bezos may have finally found that second home for his online empire—or make that second and third. After narrowing down the list of cities that could be potential new hosts of Amazon's HQ2 in January, the company has been tight-lipped about its final decision. Until yesterday... View full entry
[...] a judge has ruled that a New York developer must pay $6.7 million to a group of graffiti artists to compensate for painting over their work without warning in 2013. The decision represents a decisive victory for street artists in a case that pitted their rights against those of a real estate executive.
The artists sued the developer, Gerald Wolkoff, for violating their rights after he whitewashed their work at the famous 5Pointz art mecca in Long Island City to make way for condos.
— artnet
Citing protection of the artists'—historically significant but ultimately destroyed—works at 5Pointz under the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA), Judge Frederic Block ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in this closely watched landmark case: "Since 5Pointz was a prominent tourist attraction... View full entry
Was the street art covering 5Pointz, a largely empty warehouse in Long Island City, Queens, significant enough to preserve under US federal law? A federal judge in Brooklyn in currently considering the arguments in a case that tests the limits of the Visual Artists Rights Act (Vara), and could soon decide whether a developer Gerald Wolkoff and his companies violated the act when he tore down the graffiti-covered building to construct residential towers and what, if any, damages they will pay. — The Art Newspaper
The plastics company, Plaxall, announced on Tuesday a massive rezoning proposal to allow for a mixed-use district in Anable Basin, the area surrounding a 149-year-old inlet located in Long Island City. Since founding the company more than 70 years ago, the Plaxall family has purchased and... View full entry
Wolkoff granted permission to artists to paint on the building in 1993, when Long Island City wasn’t hot property....Fast forward to 2013, New York real estate was exploding. The building’s location was highly desirable. — Quartz
5 Pointz, located in Long Island City, was an American mural space considered to be the world's premier graffiti mecca. Bought by developer Jerry Wolkoff in 1971, the building's exterior was graffitied over with a myriad of street art when Wolkoff started leasing space as artists' studios in the... View full entry
The New York-based firm ODA has recently completed 2222 Jackson, an 11-story, 175-unit rental project in Long Island City, a mere stone’s throw away from MoMA PS1. The pixel-like, concrete-poured exterior is intended to complement the nearby museum, while simultaneously encapsulating the... View full entry
Here’s our first peek at Simon Baron Development, Quadrum Global and CRE Development’s three-tower Long Island City development slated to rise alongside the former Paragon Paint factory building at 45-40 Vernon Boulevard. Permits for the first tower were filed with the DOB back in June and detail a 28-story, 296-unit rental tower designed by SHoP Architects. — 6sqft.com
A micro apartment is typically less than 350 square feet, but the term “micro” is getting an expansion (figuratively and literally) in Long Island City. A new rental complex will offer 57 two- and three-bedroom units ranging from 490 to 735 square feet, according to the Wall Street Journal. The project at 37-10 Crescent Street is being developed by Ranger Properties. — 6sqft.com
Construction of the forthcoming Queens Library has begun at Center Boulevard and 48th Avenue in Hunters Point of NYC's Long Island City. Steven Holl Architects won the commission back in 2010 to design the new $30.6 million public library. Surrounded by recently built skyscraper condominiums and... View full entry
The architectural folly is an opportunity for architects to bring out their eccentric side in the design process, which makes it an entertaining approach when creating a (temporary) public installation. In this spirit, the Socrates Sculpture Park and The Architectural League of New York hosts the... View full entry
The whitewashing and subsequent demolition of Long Island City graffiti mecca 5Pointz was painful enough for the arts community, but now G&M Realty, the developer responsible for the loss, wants to trademark the 5Pointz name and use it for their new residential towers at the site. And artists are not happy, saying the developer is trying to bank off their name. — 6sqft
Upon the recent controversial demolition of the "5 POINTZ" graffiti mecca in Long Island City, NY, a group of architects consisting of Arianna Armelli, Ishaan Kumar, David Sepulveda and Wagdy Moussa came up with the idea of DEFACED. In the proposal, DEFACED is an organization that is dedicated to... View full entry
5 Pointz, New York City’s “graffiti mecca,” is being demolished right now. This morning, a backhoe began tearing into the building that has served as a legal spot for aerosol artists for over two decades. In 2011, the property owner announced that he will be developing the site and transforming it into a massive residential condo complex. — animalnewyork.com
Previously View full entry
When Thomas Paino, an architect, decided to remodel a rowhouse he had bought in Long Island City, Queens, his ambitions were nothing short of trying to save the world — at least so far as a two-family home could contribute to the cause. [...]
And he came up with a daring design in the hopes that neighbors, passers-by, perhaps even the world would take notice.
He succeeded beyond all expectations.
— nytimes.com
