20 THE QUEENS COURIER • DECEMBER 20, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
in Queens
Board 2 chair talks new role as Amazon committee co-chair
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@cnglocal.com
@QNS
Denise Keehan-Smith has had a
tumultuous year. Th e chairwoman of
Community Board 2 had to maintain
order at several monthly meetings as
her community raged against the city
opening a third shelter for the homeless
in a seven-block area of Long Island
City last May while fi ghting a nearly
yearlong battle over the Department of
Transportation’s plans for bike lanes on
Skillman and 43rd avenues in Sunnyside.
“Th at was quite a year and the bike lane
issue is still ongoing and I haven’t given
up on it yet,” Keehan-Smith said.
Now she is preparing to take on a more
controversial role as one of 45 members
who accepted a position on a community
advisory panel which will play a role in planning
for Amazon’s HQ2 campus around the
Anable Basin in Long Island City.
Keehan-Smith will co-chair the Project
Plan subcommittee with Long Island City
Partnership president Elizabeth Lusskin.
“Th e Community Advisory Committee
will bring thoughtful insight and feedback
into the Amazon development process,
and I look forward to helping the
Long Island City community and economy
succeed and thrive alongside our partners
in the nonprofi t sectors.”
She has already seen calls from anti-gentrifi
cation groups calling for her to step
down from the panel.
“Th at social media stuff doesn’t bother
me,” Keehan-Smith said. “It’s a kind
of extremism and if we were to pay attention
we would never get anything done.
Amazon will start moving staff into the
Citigroup tower next year and you can’t
stop them. We couldn’t stop a bike lane
and we’re going to stop Amazon?”
At Community Board 2’s fi rst monthly
meeting since the Amazon announcement
was made last month, 75 people signed up
to speak during the public comment segment
which last more than two hours.
“At the CB2 meeting people were telling
me privately they support Amazon
coming to LIC but they don’t want to
speak publicly about it,” Keehan-Smith
said. “You walk around Woodside and
you’ll hear a lot from people that are
happy that so many job opportunities are
coming to western Queens. Yes there is a
small amount of people who don’t want
me to serve and yes we’re worried that
longtime residents will be pushed out and
rents will go up. Th e thing is gentrifi cation
began in Long Island City years ago.”
Th e third-generation Woodside resident,
a global account director for a travel
technology company, says it is better
to have a seat at the table and act as a
community leader rather than walk away
from the community advisory committee.
“We have a good handle on the issues
like the fact they will be building the
HQ2 campus in a fl ood zone. Th at DOE
building still has damage from Hurricane
Sandy,” Keehan-Smith said. “We need
a resilience plan. We need to look at
the environmental study. We need better
transportation like fi xing the 7 train and
adding more ferry service. What about
Liz Crowley’s plan for light rail? I will be
advocating for what I know the community
needs are and I think our needs will
be considered.”
Photo courtesy of Queens Streets for All
CB2 chairwoman Denise Keehan-Smith (l.) takes part in a protest against the Sunnyside bike lanes
last month.
Sellers’ market in LIC heated up after Amazon HQ2 deal: study
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com
@robbpoz
With visions of a windfall dancing in
their heads, Long Island City property
sellers boosted their asking prices aft er
Amazon announced that it would building
part of its second headquarters in
the neighborhood, according to a study
released on Dec. 17.
Real estate network StreetEasy reported
that in the fi ve weeks since reports surfaced
of the Amazon HQ2 deal, the owners
of 18.8 percent of all homes listed for sale
in Long Island City increased their asking
prices. Just fi ve sellers dropped their asking
price during the listing period.
Th e trend marked an about-face in traditional
real estate logic, in which sellers
off er high and drop the price the longer a
property is on the market. Moreover, the
StreetEasy report found that not one Long
Island City property listed for sale raised
its asking price in the fi ve weeks before the
Amazon deal was announced.
A search of the StreetEasy real estate
search engine shows a number of properties
that increased their asking prices in
recent weeks. For example, a one-bedroom
condo inside One Hunters Point, located
at 5-49 Borden Ave., is being off ered for
$995,000, up $45,000 (4.3 percent) from 28
days ago, according to StreetEasy. Another
one-bedroom apartment located at 46-20
11th St. is being off ered for $895,000, an
increase of $55,000 (5.8 percent) from 28
days ago.
It’s said that real estate is all about “location,
location, location,” and property owners
and brokers also tweaked their listings
to tell interested buyers that their properties
are close to the Amazon HQ2 site near
the Anable Basin. StreetEasy found that
more than 75 homes for sale in 48 buildings
touted in their listings their proximity
to the Amazon campus.
Not all of these homes were in Long
Island City, either; StreetEasy reported
that many of them are located across the
river in the Midtown East neighborhood
of Manhattan.
“Th e trend of Manhattan listings touting
their proximity to Queens illustrates
just how upside down the New York City
real estate market has become going into
2019,” according to a StreetEasy blog post
about the report. “With Manhattan prices
down 2.5 percent from the prior year as
of October, and Queens prices up 5.4 percent,
developers are pinning their hopes on
Amazon.”
Th e Amazon deal, as reported, is expected
to bring 25,000 jobs to Long Island City,
with the fi rst percentage of these jobs arriving
in 2019 and working out of a temporary
space in One Court Square (the former
Citicorp Building). Th e average wage
for these jobs, as the retail giant announced,
would be about $150,000 a year.
File photo/THE COURIER
The Court Square streetscape in Long Island City
link
link
