Rendering (Provided by Developer)
May 14, 2013 By Christian Murray
Builders have broken ground on a 9-story residential development in Sunnyside.
The development, located on 43rd Street between 43rd and Skillman Avenues, will consist of 38 rental units and 17 parking spaces. The apartments will all be one or two bedrooms, with prices expected to fetch about $1,600 for a one bedroom and $1,800 for a two bedroom.
The initial plan was for a six story building, but the developer revised his plan. The developer, Hooshang Nemat, said he decided to reduce the size of the building’s footprint and build higher.
At 9 stories, the development will be much taller than other buildings on the street. Most are 6 stories.
Hooshang said the development will have a concrete and glass facade. He hopes that it will be completed in 18 months—but it could take as long as 2 years.
The new building, which will have an address of 41-18 43rd Street, used to be the site(s) of an abandoned home as well as a separate empty lot. The abandoned home was demolished months ago.
Location prior to development (2012) Photo: QueensPost
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55 Comments
Pablo, what makes you think every resident in this building will have, or need, a car? Living in Sunnyside, one does not need an automobile. Most people who live here get along fine without one. Those who insist that they need their car, and free parking on our streets are a dying breed and will not be around too much longer. If we could eliminate all of the vehicular traffic, the buses would move much more quickly, there would be more room for pedestrians, and the environment would be cleaner, not to mention less dangerous. Parking spaces are disappearing, folks, but the whining and complaining continue.
I agree with Thomster. I too fer the increased number of residents in this neighborhood who will show up on the already overcrowded subway platform. The 7 train, by the time it hits Sunnyside in the AM rush hour, is unbearable. The buses aren’t much a relief since the traffic over the bridge is horrendous and some moron in City Planning Dept. decided to build a “park” right where Queens Blvd meets Jackson Blvd. and the Q32 has to go around it, which, due to the completely messed up traffic takes almost 10 minutes just to go 2 freaking blocks. MTA and DOT have been doing an awful job at controlling the flow of traffic and subway/bus commuters and with more people added to the neighborhood, it will only get worse.
Anyone else notice the image of a beagle in the sky in the artist rendering of the new building? His/her former owner must live on 42nd St between Skillman and 43rd Ave.
What was wrong with my comment, Sunnyside Post. You don’t like someone calling it like it is? You won’t post a well-thought out, calmly stated comment pointing out that at the urging of politicians, banks and PR people ignorant and arrogant folks who fancy themselves au courant have descended on this neighborhood and sneer at quiet people who have spent years and years working on this neighborhood without support. Bah! to you. You are not an open forum. You are a tool of your advertisers. Will you post this one?
An ugly looking building. Truly ugly. The developer is trying to squeeze in a lot of space in a small area. It is out of place. As for the pot smokers, the 108th knows who they are – a lot of them live in Sunnyside Gardens and think they own the place since their parents allegedly have money. They have no class.
@ Anonymous Your rudeness is exceeded only by your arrogance. No one, except perhaps our politicians, neglected this neighborhood.
Everyone did the best they could with the resources they had and no outside support. You can try to excuse your overbearing, heedless invasion of this neighborhood by characterizing the people who were here before as “less than” you, but only your cohorts believe you. The rest of us know we’ve been taken over by wealthier, aggressive self-important people. Think Europeans in the Americas, Vikings and the English in Ireland, the English in the rest of the world, and you will get the picture.
And it is for all the same reasons: A group with money and an appetite to use it, sees that with just a few politicians in their pockets, banks dying to write mortgages and a good PR campaign they can take it from people working hard to make ends meet. Happens all the time.
Go ahead, believe this well oiled story of “improvement” you tell yourself. But don’t expect everyone to buy it. If you do, add “naive” or “in denial” to the above list of adjectives.
lol $1800 for a 2br.
Even in one of our lovely art-deco prewars it’s far beyond that for a two bedroom. But seriously if there’s rent control I’ll be all over it.
I hate the noise on 43rd street (as I hear an 18-wheeler pull through another light and lay its exhaust on my window sill), but 9 stories up I’d tolerate it.
There’s an echochamber of noise in these halls 6 story of buildings. Let ’em build up. Heterogeneity in structure is good for diffusion of noise.
And besides, they’re rental units, not LIC condos. It’ll be poor yuppies at best (I know, I’m one of em, and I’m here already).
Sad, but this is only the beginning. With the PJ Horgan/movie theatre building sold, we can expect another ugly building soon. It will keep happening anywhere that it can be done.
@Bitchy Waiter
You are totally wrong.
That’s the Three Stooges construction company, not Laurel and Hardy.
Laurel and Hardy are doing the new school building on the south side.
When did I say I was an expert on anything, OM? Let alone construction? I can see into the lot from my apartment and I can tell you that most of the time I look out, the workers are doing nothing. Watching the trees come down was sad but comical as they tried to figure out how to do it. I watched as a tree fell directly onto the tractor that was pulling it. They also broke the retaining wall in two different places. No, I am not an expert, but I can see with my own two eyes how bumbling they are.
9 stories? Why is this allowed in our zoning laws? Completely out of character for that block in particular and Sunnyside in general.
@ ange
Guess what? “True” sunnysiders like yourself, webley, om, etc… neglected the neighborhood. Furthermore, these old timers oppose any type of change or outsiders moving in. What the hell do you expect? Why do you think these “improvements” happen in pockets where newcomers are more accepted?
@ webley
Has there EVER been a new generation that hasn’t been worst then the last? keep trolling… we’ll keep on keeping on. Life is for living. Why do you guys begrudge younger people from their own happiness?
Regarding pot, its really at the bottom of the barrel of things the police have to deal with. What are they gonna do? Round up every college age kid in NYC?
I wish this was condos rather than rentals. Rentals generally mean people have less interest in staying in the neighborhood and helping to make it a great community. Surprised by the low prices too.
And I don’t find this building NEARLY as ugly as some of the other new developments in the area.
That LIRR stop was scrapped a while ago. Woodside will go straight to GC, but that’ll be the closest one.
That is one ugly building.
Nine stories isn’t horribly over the other six storied buidlings – if that was the compromise set in 2011 rezoning so as not to have the 20-plus & 40-plus stories that are going up in LIC – I can live with it.
Its facade is different from the immediate surroundings, but its not atrocious either. And glass is cheaper than brick, so I’m not surprised. And they’ll get more natural light that way.
I don’t understand the projected rent price unless the apartment sizes are small. If a “studio” here is defined as 400 square feet or less and a two-bedroom at 750 square feet, i.e. on the very low side of things – then it makes sense. So at face value, it seems on the low side, but maybe its not relatvie to the actual apartment size. . . ?? Time will tell.
I believe that a LI Train stop is coming to that side of Sunnyside (around 40th?? and Skillman??) and will go striaght to Grand Central and Penn Station? Hopefully with that completion, it will ease some traffic on the 7-train line with the increased residences over there.
…i think the new building design is ugly and out of place for this neighborhood…..also, the rents quoted are a huge crock of poop….i’ll believe it when i see it….and as far as the smell of weed wafting through the neighborhood…..i’d rather put up with a stoned out smoker minding their own business than the stupid drunken a-holes that come stumbling out of the bars at all hours, urinating in the street, and yelling their stupid heads off…idiots.
Wesley, brilliant idea. There is plenty of science based research that establishes diseases are transmitted by dogs and dog feces and that young children are especially at risk. Within the past two years, the internationally respected Centers for Disease Control reported on the health risk to young children presented when a dog licks a child, diseases too disgusting to describe here. While not science based evidence, there has been plenty of proof on these pages of mental illness suffered by some dog owners who so worship their canine that they see images of deceased dogs in the sky looking down fondly on their living owner, tongue out and tail wagging. I’m not sure, but this disease may be the result of too much tongue touching with their pet. Public education on the health risk presented by dogs hopefully would get dog owners to change their behaviors which would benefit society at large.
Oppressed Masses, good luck with dog-free dreams. When landlord is building the place for pure profit and won’t be living there and managing it, they will not make it dog-free. It will most likely be pet-friendly building.
We don’t need dog-free buildings, we need dog-poop-free sidewalks and dog owners who care.. Sadly, there is no application or credit check that can determine if tenant will be a good dog owner or not, unless laws change this will never change.. OR maybe we can start a random epidemic like avian flu.. “Dog poop flu” just like how media can control people by creating bogus panic on stuff that will barely get to you and people suddenly stop eating tomatoes.. Salmonella, 50 people dead~!..
Maybe if there is enough panic and paranoia about dog poop, that will change things a bit.
Nancy,
Have you looked at the laws regarding pots in NYC? They are a total joke, and almost nobody has been arrested for smoking weed in Sunnyside.
There are certain spots almost everyone can easily tell where the smoke/smell is originating from, somehow nobody seems to do anything about it. Can this be something Sunnyside Post can cover? Or is SP afraid they might get shunned by the weed society and we begin seeing fights between potheads and people like you, me, others who feel they deserve to live in stink free environment? I heard CPS can actually take it more seriously than Police if you have kids living/playing around the pot spots..
http://norml.org/laws/item/new-york-penalties-2?category_id=876
9 stories? Is this allowed?
Nine stories? Totally out of scale. I had read that the new re-zoning permitted big buildings along Queens Blvd., but what is this monstrosity doing on a side street?
How ugly!
Is “hipsters” the new word for anyone who appreciates the neighborhood and wants to live here? Well I think the building looks nice. New construction like this will attract better commerical stores to the neighborhood.
Grimace, you are right on the $.
Ruben, we won’t need to walk around the ballplayers. We can use the ramp down from 42nd st entrance to the dog run. Ballplayers should enjoy the new park, play from dawn to dusk, have a blast! With the increase in PEP officers coming to Queens soon, they should be careful regarding past quality of life violations though.
Agreed on parking. New developments should come, with parking, especially if they are going to be taller than any surrounding bldgs. As terribly designed as that ‘new’ building is on 44th St is, @ least there are parking spaces
For OM, I will be contacting the new bldg owner to ensure pets are allowed:)
RD
@Pete Thanks
@Royale w/ Cheese I say that sort of thing to my girlfriend all the time and get called a conspiracy theorist.
I agree that the rents seem low but I’m sure once this hits market they’ll be $1750/$2000 appropriately. The lower rate is to appease current residents and to avoid instilling fear.
Shoddy Construction is a disgusting racist prick. That being said, you only have to worry about the latinos invading your precious little park that’s being rebuilt. They are going to thank you lots for spending millions to fix their soccer spot. I am going to LAUGH my ass off when I see the hipster complain when they try to walk their dogs around them.
Also, I’ve stated before Sunnyside needs parking. Some idiot responded that it didn’t. I doubt that guy has a car or lived here long. Keep building these buildings, you get more traffic, enjoy your hip and trendy new neighborhood folks.
Developers–and the members of local government who cater to them–disgust me. The building is ugly. It’s made for fast turnover and high rents. Not at all good for the neighborhood. It will bring people looking for a place to sleep while climbing the ladder in Manhattan, but no people who want to put down roots.
The fact that these guys got around the 6 floor limit is something that CB2, etc should be ashamed of.
On another note, Oppressed Masses, keep talking like a chump and you will continue to be treated like one. You are nothing but a big bag of wind.
OM today and everyday: “Oh, Look!!! A new Sunnyside post article!! How can I connect it to dogs?! Geez, it only took me an hour to figure out last time!”
You are painfully in need of a life. More volunteering, less broken record whining.
RD
@Grimace
The rezoning was approved in July 2011:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/sunny_woodside/index.shtml
Can’t wait to see all the non-union illegal immagrants who can’t speak a word of English invade the neighborhood. Hope the neighbors won’t mind them drinking to all hours of the night unless they have a volleyball game at Skillman Park to get to. Won’t have to worry about them taking parking spots, I’m sure the contractor will cram them all into vans getting to their below wage, unsafe job site. These jobs have a history of cutting corners and make workers take unsafe shortcuts with the health of them and our families put at risk if we happen to be walking by. This contractor is out to make a quick buck and if a life or two is lost in the process so be it. They have a habit of keeping DOB and OSHA off there job sites because if the hazards it hides during the process of construction. The “proposed” rents are a joke. Word is out in the city that Sunnyside is only a 15 minute ride to Manhattan. Please be careful with your Loved ones when passing by this job site. If you see something, please contact out local officials or CB 2 and hopefully they can try and help keep it safe.
Please Dear Lord, give this developer/landlord the wisdom to make this new building a “dog free” environment. The sidewalks of 43rd Street between Skillman and 43rd Aves. are a heavy duty feces zone as attested to by the young students a few weeks ago while they were preparing posters for the campaign sponsored by Councilmember Van Bramer. The last thing 43rd Street needs is an influx of four legged feces producing machines. If this building is not dog free, Sophia’s poster will need to be changed to put a baseball bat in Rick the Wonder Dog’s paws to deliver the message to the new arrivals. On a different matter, is there any activity in which The Bitchy Waiter doesn’t claim to have expertise?
I agree with Webley, the smell of weed is overpowering at times. I have even had people sitting on my doorstep smoking the stuff with my kids watching them out of my window. When will the police start enforcing the law and give out some tickets or something?
I feel bad for the people in the buildings behind this. They can kiss their sunlight good bye.
Anyone know why they were allowed to go 9 stories? You don’t want a precedent to be set. I also agree that those rental estimates are low.
Here is the link to developer’s story and details:
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/towns/chamber-president-profile-great-neck-s-hooshang-nematzadeh-1.3823815
1800 for 2 bedrooms? What is this affordable housing? That’s terrible, if anyone here thinks it is a good thing, it is NOT. Why not build projects and fill it up with Section 8 tenants… give me break. Maybe they will charge for other extras and 1800 is a gimmick.
To 43rd & 43rd:
Construction activities are permitted to commence at 7am on weekdays. I live on 42nd Street and the PS313 construction starts promptly at 6:59am EVERY weekday morning. They always start the day with the loudest possible machinery and/or equipment. The yelling and screaming of the union construction workers starts well before 7am…
The building they put on 44th between skillman and 43rd is downright ugly and out of place, look how crowded and dark it made that part of the street.
Then came CVS’s building, almost always, every single day, there is a double parked vehicle on that street (41st?) it is disgusting.
Now with this place, unless they include at least 1 spot per apartment, it is going to make matters worst for the community since there are cheapskates who do not want to park under 7 train and pay few bucks a day. The town really needs more parking spaces. I don’t know how well the place on 47th and blvd is doing but that place was great when it first opened and offered good prices, now you can’t even tell there is a parking lot.
Regarding the hipsters, there are total jerks who think because they pay for rent they own the neighborhood, and then there are really nice well mannered, educated, cool, understanding hipsters that are totally welcome in the neighborhood.
My observation is this, new generation (current 25-35) that are NOT from sunnyside who come and jump into a neighborhood that is not manhattan or williamsburgh is trying to make turn it into one, no matter hipster or not, this generation is much worse than the other. They are demanding, they are used to getting instant gratification and they want things done quickly and to their satisfaction. They have no understanding or tolerance and feel everything must be done by the book until it is something that they need to take advantage of. I really hope we get lucky and the good ones move into the neighborhood and make this cool place even cooler, but I am afraid most of the newcomers will end up being arrogant selfish.
Let’s not forget the potheads. Sunnyside is smelling more and more like pot corner. Almost every block has certain location that smells of weed.
It stinks and it is disgusting. We got rid of smokers in restaurants and now we need to get rid of pot smokers from our buildings.
where is the exact address please and location ?
Grimace, my guess is that building codes get changed because wealthy developers know which palms to grease.
Development is good, but yes parking around Sunnyside can be not just difficult, but a nightmare. This is just going to make things worse. Why don’t they make more parking spaces? It’s not like they are giving parking spots out for free. They make good money renting or selling them.
Another soulless, oversized eye sore.
Are there any architects out there with a nickel’s worth of aesthetic sense?
Great.
ANOTHER oversized, out-of-place building that will not only bring in the “entitled assholes” but will strain our power grid, water and sewer services.
Just a reminder, this was mentioned on here months back when news of a squatter bring forced out broke. I’m all for development and don’t necessarily mind the cheap and ugly facade. What I’m unclear on is when building codes for the zone changed to allow buildings over 6 stories. That’s the biggest issue I see here.
I venture to guess that by the time the building is completed rents will be closer to $1800 for a 1 bedroom and $2200 for a 2 bedroom.
How did they get approval for 9 stories?! Too bad — it will definitely block neighbors’ sun, gardens, views. What a shame the facade is totally out of place, too. I knew it was happening, but I was hoping it would fit into the neighborhood better, rather than being a sore thumb.
My last frustration is with construction. How are they starting before 8 am in a 100% residential area?!
The workers look like they work for the Laurel and Hardy construction company. They seem clueless most of the time.
It’s one thing to have new people move in to the neighborhood and fuel positive changes, it’s another to have these newcomers make lifelong residents feel like strangers in their own homes. If you haven’t noticed, the opening of these organic food markets and Sunday brunch spots have all been on Skillman Avenue which is made up of a pretty homogenous population. There is a whole other (diverse) side of Queens Boulevard that makes up Sunnyside, and is being completely neglected. As a resident of 50th Avenue, until I begin to see the focus shifted to Greenpoint Avenue and true Sunnysiders no longer moving out, I will not approve of the hipsters or “embrace” their gentrification process.
At least the prices seem to be about market for that part of the neighborhood anyways (rather than hugely jacking up the going rate).
I wish it could fit in aesthetically with the primarily brick buildings in the neighborhood better…
I agree with Pablo about the parking situation, though I think development is probably good for for the neighborhood in the long run. I was surprised by the $1600-$1800 rent figures that the article mentioned. From what I have seen listings in the neighborhood going for, that seems to be on the low side.
I agree with QueenBee. Bringing in a new wave of residents is a good thing. I have lived in Sunnyside for 12 years and I have seen nothing but positive growth in the make up of my neighbors. I love the community events as well as the options that bring the community together, such as outdoor dining, pub crawls, and the musicians that Sunnyside Shines arranges to play under the arch in the summer.
Anybody taken the 7 train lately? There are so many people living in Sunnyside now that overly packed trains are a common occurence during rush hour. The rail infrastructure cant cope with this increased residency. The more of these buildings that go up then we are all screwed. Unless the MTA does something about it.
I welcome new development, but why are the developers allowed to include fewer parking spaces than units in this project. It is already difficult enough to find parking in Sunnyside; if there are another 21 cars looking for parking on the street, it will be harder.
I’ve never heard the words “trashy” and “hipster” equated together before. The “hipsters”, like it or not, have caused the revampment of Sunnyside which has resulted in quite a lot of positive changes.
A combination of the old neighbors who want to see Sunnyside succeed along with those new comers who expect clean & safe streets and have pride in where the live is what is causing a resurgence in Queens.
I welcome new building developments and restaurants and businesses as opposed to tagging, muggings, robbery, litter on the streets and close minded folks.
Bring on more of the Bistro’s, Sunday Brunch and family events and outdoor activities and drive out the litter bugs and nay sayers! 🙂
LICII (note: not Long Island City) but we’re working on it!!!!!
Nice building how many trashy hipsters or organic food eating yuppies will they cram into this place?