Just across the East River from Manhattan is the city's largest borough, Queens, which has always held the reputation of being home to diverse neighborhoods, beautiful green spaces, and luxury rentals for a more affordable price than you’ll find in the city. A new addition at 11-07 Welling Court, has recently been completed in Astoria, and apartments in the boutique rental have recently hit the market.

Even though Manhattan and Brooklyn are generally considered the most predominant boroughs in NYC’s real estate market, Queens rents saw a notable increase — and in the area around Long Island City, the median rent actually surpassed Brooklyn’s.

The market for renting and buying in New York City is on the rise. Numbers for sales in Brooklyn and Queens and rentals in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens released by Douglas Elliman suggest this claim with record numbers for both rentals and sales in the boroughs.

 

Image Courtesy of STUDIO V Architecture Waterfront development has been steadily making its way along the shores of Brooklyn and Queens over the last handful of years. The East River waterfront of Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo, Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Long Island City have all seen or are seeing a wave of development wash upon the shorelines, welcoming new buildings, often in the form of luxury condos or rentals. Now, this seemingly unstoppable wave is landing in Astoria in the form of a one-million-square foot mixed-use development called Astoria Cove.

To most, Astoria is not known for luxury living. The traditionally middle class neighborhood has remained somewhat low key, even during a period of time that has seen other traditionally working class neighborhoods like the Lower East Side, Williamsburg and Long Island City become popular locations for luxury rental apartments. While these neighborhoods continue to grow in popularity, as well as cost, there’s one lively, diverse neighborhood in New York City that has all the potential in the world, not to mention luxury apartments, that no one seems to be talking about—Astoria.

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is once again the subject of controversy after MLS stadium proposals have kept the park in the headlines for the better part of a year. Though, the discussion isn’t centered on prospective tenants this time, but rather its current ones – primarily, Citi Field and the Mets. Queens’ flagship park is failing to meet cleanliness standards of other similar sized parks, and maintenance is underfunded despite playing host to the New York Mets and the U.S. Open. Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras cites Citi Field’s incredibly low yearly lease of $155,000.

Looking for an inexpensive way to get a bird’s eye view of Manhattan? A 5 minute ride on the Roosevelt Island tram, that takes off from 59th Street and Second Avenue, over dramatic city sights, high-low elevations of the Queensborough Bridge, and the Manhattan skyline; offers riders just that.

If you were to ask someone about their thoughts on Long Island City in the late 80’s and 90’s, a good chance is that their response would’ve mentioned the neighborhood’s high concentration of factories, warehouses and its various forms of transportation such as the Queensboro Bridge, which facilitated industrial and economic growth. Since then, Long Island City has received a “facelift.” Art galleries, commercial businesses and high-end real estate are now making Long Island City their new stomping grounds. LIC is a conglomerate of the youthful, cool and hip spirit of Williamsburg intertwined with the sophistication of Manhattan.