The Sunnyside Arch (via Sunnyside Shines)
Dec. 28, 2015 Staff Report
Sunnyside underwent a great deal of change in 2015, with the loss of some old-time establishments to the opening of several vibrant new businesses.
The year, however, was also marked by development.
A nine-story building was completed at 41-18 43rd Street in August and another nine-story building finished recently at 41-28 44th Street. The building on Greenpoint and 48th Street where King Boulevard was located has been demolished, making way for a four-story mixed use building.
Demolition papers have been filed for 39-11 to 39-19 Queens Blvd, where Xio Lounge was located, as well as 50-11 Queens Boulevard. Furthermore, there is a 10-story, 220-unit development proposed by Phipps to be located at Barnett Avenue (near 52nd Street). Then there is the Center Cinema site that is going to be developed.
Meanwhile, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his goal to build 11,250 affordable units over Sunnyside yards.
Real estate prices continued to climb, according to experts. Local agents claim that one bedroom coops are now selling for about $300,000, with rent for a 1 bedroom reaching $2,100. Sunnyside Gardens houses are now selling above the $1 million mark.
Old-time bars such as PJ Horgan’s, Bliss Street Station and Murphy’s Lobster Grill closed this year, after being in the neighborhood for years. Meanwhile, several new businesses opened such as the SoleLuna Restaurant, Nonna Gina, Chihuahua Mexican Restaurant, Alcove, Zio Luigie, Cemitas, Dumpling & Things, Cool Down Juices and Cross Fit Sunnyside. Bars such as Maggie Mae’s underwent a major revamp, while Bar 43 and El Buen Sabor expanded.
Crime on the whole declined in Sunnyside/Woodside and Long Island City, according to the 108th Police Precinct. However, there was a case of a man being shot dead in Sunnyside outside of Secrets, the Queens Blvd strip club, in November.
Furthermore, some very quirky happenings also took place—from a woman stealing plants outside of Skillman Pets to an angry note placed on a windshield of a car about a parking space.
The following is a list of stories providing an overview of the year.
Featured Events
36 Comments
Happy New Year everyone. The 7 train completely shut down during the rush hour of the first work day of the year. Things never change. Should be a wonderful year in Sunnyside!
The 7 train is great compared to other lines. Its still the cheapest way to get around. If you dont like it try the bike lane on q.b. see how fast you get back on old #7
SUNNYSIDE was full of crime and crack on the southside in the 70s,80s,and part of the 90s. Drugs,whores,and crime. They cleaned it up on the north side of q.blvd, cleaned up the blvd, and left the southside like a toilet. All the drugs you want on South side still cops just moved it indoors. Nothing was done on s.side. and all you people do is complain about the good ol days, old dumpy bars that closed. Stop drinking so much, your all stuck in a period of time that wasnt all that good. Change for the better is good, your just afraid of it
Happy new year to ypu all and the 7 train!
what how did the 7 train get that it is always delayed and weekends worse service I would say
Earth to Helios please come in. We’ve gone over this a million times. The garbage cans were taken off of 43d Avenue because people living there overflowed the cans with household garbage which is illegal.
yeah, neighborhoods go thru ups and downs, they change! Ive been here for about 20+, moved in just after Guiliani took office and the first thing I saw was what looked like a prostitute on Skillman and watch someone buy drugs outside my window. The Guilani years helped to clean it.
Then me and my wife decided to have a family here and bought a 2bdrm – because we love this place. Yeah, property values are nice but I am more concerned with raising my kids in a decent place without the past garbage.
So you ask me do I want it to remain as is and I say NO, because a downturn in the economy could send it back to what it was before 1990 and I want it pushed in the other direction where I can raise kids safely.
BTW, go you youtube and check out clips of Joey Travolta (Johns brother) in “Sunnyside” about the gang years of this place
I picked this neighborhood to live in precisely because it seemed like such a great place to raise kids. I don’t have any knowledge about what it was like 20 years ago here, that’s interesting to here. Certainly we’d all like things to improve…but unlike some posters here, I think the development we are seeing is going to help us move in that direction. But I get that my perspective may be different than someone who has lived here a very long time and was a attached to the neighborhood being a certain way (not that this sounds like you). And I can see why a long time renter might be a little dismayed at trends that point to increased rents.
that’s funny Albert.
I love the place after 50 yrs. Always did.
We need more garbage cans on 43rd ave.
very simple math would help explain this love hate going on in sunnyside…
renters – cash = : > (
renters + cash = : > |
owners )
owners > 3 years = : > o
owners > 10+ years like me = : > O
I bought a place here at the end of 2014, and I’m pretty happy with how things are going. I’m sad that P.J Horgans, Bliss St., and Murphy’s are gone (particularly Murphy’s), but people are starting new businesses here other than the dollar stores complained of so often. It’s clear that developers/business oeprators/whatever believe that there is demand here for housing, food, and hopefully entertainment. I agree that it’s too bad that the movie theater is gone, but as a north sider the Astoria theater isn’t that much farther for me, and is a whole lot nicer.
I look at the new residential and mixed used developments as good signs, and think the end result will drive out some dollar stores folks here hate–though it may take a few years. I moved into downtown brooklyn several years back and upon going through there recently I have seen how new, modern residential development and increased popularity have changed the neighborhood, and it’s mostly for the good.
Those who bought in Sunnyside several years ago are probably very happy they did, from a property values perspective, and I think those who have bought more recentlywill also be pretty happy about it in several years. I don’t have a great answer about public transportation or parking—that is something where we need to fight for upgrades throughout this process. Maybe the proposed new bridge tolls will help a little with parking, I don’t know. So…feel free to keep griping about transportation, I guess.
You move in, raise prices, move out and start the process all over again somewhere else. You are not a neighbor, you are an opportunist getting rich off other people’s displacement. Like the nastier commenter above, take your profits and move on, please. Your self-seving behavior is ugly.
I’m a guy for whom it made sense to rent a small apartment in a fun neighborhood in Brooklyn at an earlier point in my life, who then bought a home in a more family oriented neighborhood when my wife and I had twins on the way. Look for this opportunist pushing a double stroller into Skillman Pizza for a breakfast sandwhich on the occasional Saturday, and hopefully look for me walking my kids to school several years down the road. What is it you think I should have done differently? Would it make you happier if I pretended not to care about or notice property values? Seems like a pretty irresponsible way for a family man to be.
I mean, sheesh, do you think I wish now I’d rented in Brooklyn for several years before moving here? As Albert Einstein suggests in his helpful chart, I’d be a much better “opportunist” and a lot better off financially if I’d bought here 3-4 years ago.
Anon, are you saying that people who move to Sunnyside should stay forever? I am a life long Sunnyside resident and have seen the good and the bad. When I was younger, I never appreciated the neighborhood. Now, I see all the pluses the neighborhood has to offer. My friends, coworkers and family love this little piece of New York whenever they come to visit.
Stupid is as stupid writes, Dr. Seuss.
thanks for the wrap-up. 2016 will be an interesting year for Sunnyside.
Well, it’s great news for me! As long as the prices keep climbing, my investments are worthwhile! They are twice the price I paid 3 years ago! Awesome! Hopefully, these new developments will continue the trend.
I heartily dislike you for feasting greedily on the painful changes in people’s lives taking place around you. It is the pain that is making you rich. You are not a neighbor, you are a leech. Take your profits and leave, please.
…and Happy holidays to you Mr Scrooge!!
Go sit on your quill, Mr. Dickens.
Yea, Dickens. Shut it!
Hey Bundy, nice work!
And what are you, Anonymous, for suggesting that A.Bundy not make money off of his real estate? Should he lose money so you can wallow in you nostalgic failure to adapt?
Despite the inevitable whining by Joe and El Loco and most likely others, Sunnyside is a great place to live. I feel lucky to be here.
Predictable response. Rip into anyone who says something different. Hey Bill get out once in a while and take a look around. I guess it’s nice to be a shut in sometimes.
Bill, how long have you lived here? What has changed for the better, in say the last decade? How much better is the #7 train, or the buses for our residents?
How much better is the parking situation getting? How many new upscale stores or restaurants have opened up recently? (Not counting the 99 cent stores, nail salons or tarot readers)
We don’t even have a movie theater to go to, and don’t bring up the Center theater, that place was a dump! I think we deserve newer & nicer things for our neighborhood.
All i see is big, ugly looking buildings being slapped up, along with lots of seedy new hotels.
i agree they trashed my familys owned place even though sold should have been a landmark first steakhouse with class and what sits in its path a freaking 99cents store. these places closing are landmarks with so few american being able to afford apartments and irish lucky to be left alone to live here and spanish being made to live in what they classify as the tombs the landlords raised the rents so high that none of the owners could do it. IT makes me sick you cant get justice in the court the city has its own agrenda and as far as they are concerned read your old leases as they usually are how you get screwed right out of your property once a place like maggie maes renovates and starts looking good one bad incident will lead to a court order to take it over or something or the landlord willl now request so much more. at least jacks place i think is protected because they were apart of bar rescue but for years they sat there doing the best they could. We are not wanted in this neighborhood unless we are rich and able to pay through the teeth they dont care if we have families and kids many of us too old to get jobs that could carry those rents and they dont care about rent control and stabilization a ceiling fell on my head and the landlord not only got his apartment but got away with ignoring three court dates to answer for his non compliance thats what ires me the lawyers had every intention to screw me from the begining who had the money me or the owner of the celtics? Did my lawyer sue him for damages to me and the fact i lost all my furniture and am diagnosed with PTSD and post traumatic convulsive eposodes nope they didnt even call an ambuplence when i told the lawyers I was having what I know to be a panic attach no instead of that they
denied me my trial that by law I was entitled too and sandwiched me into a stipulation giving away my apartment. the judge never even spoke to me she said to the lawyer does ms. hayes agree too this and they said yes meanwhile i was doubled over crying hysterical i couldnt move i thought i was having a heart attack. is this how the children of the generation who built the banks and the stock market to what it was should be treated I dont think so.. But Im sure they are getting good money now we never even asked for a new stove or refrigerator nor got one since the 60.s I have people to confirm the conditions. the claimed i took too long submitting discovery meanwhile it wasnt me at all it was a new chinese lawyer who didnt have a stitch of paper yet i brought tentire boxes to my lawyers. And I knew him and trusted him for years to do everything legal for me why would he do this to me i will tell you why Benedicts lawyers are so familiar with the court the work with the other partys lawyers not for their good but for the lawyers good. They got my parents antique furnishings my couches my sisters antiques from her home in jersey she had to sell when she contracted cancer and died in 1995 yet they listed her as the leaser of the apt no my sister lived in 7K and owned it my brother sold it to the now owners. HOW COULD I LOOSE. The same way bar owners and tenants who loved their homes lost their not enough money to fight for what was just and legal and my lawyer even let his people question me directly and they used the things i told them to be sure i could not meet their requests. They would have let me die if it were
my heart and stated that I simply had heart attach after signing they didnt even show me compassion i was the last out of the court and not one person from either side asked me if I was okay to go home alone my daughter came to get me but was not permitted in the building at all so it was me and the two sides 3 strong lawyers from celtics i newby from coopers office who knew nothing she didnt even know to print something on a machine to prove they had violations and open codes and court cases against them for which they were fiine d500 for each time they didnt appear. everyone worked
to do just as the lawyers wanted everyone went hush hush when i went back to file motion my lawyer wouldnt come he was already paid but never suid i had to do pro sec and when i went to the file it was completely empty but a few useless papers i was taken for an asshole with no power or money. Thank you goes out to the owner of buildings like the celtics who are greedy for money and to the owners of these long time landmarks who really had no chance in hell. right now they laugh at people like me who were given all the ability to live happily and securely by our parents yet who was to know what was goiing to happen when all the honest
familys children were left amongst a city of dishonest money hungry thieves who would charge us to pee if they could. there is no law i studied to be a paralegal Im no idiot I helped many and this particular time I was screwed big
time and nobody but joey laydens son stood by me and said tell them lowlifes they got your place now my dads, they now are getting the appels, and the cochrans so pretty much keep the mosques comming so eventually china can get back all the money america has borrowed for stupid things that do not serve us purpose like the stupid bulls all over manhattan they mean more to them then the people.Mark my words Ive lived through hell but at least I will die in peace and be forever at peace those who have hurt others have a fate that i pray Im here to see while they all cry father forgive me I believe I believ Sorry paradise is free all the mooney in the world will not release you fom reliving what you have done to others over and over and over its called pergatory. My grandmother had a strobe heart and she acknowledged that heaven existed as did my cousin Gary who wasnt even catholic who told me barb you came to late I was already there I just want to let you know I will see you there…….And I have a priest from the hospice who knew this to be true Im not trying to win anyooone over you all already screwed yourselves to your own crosses only who is going to take you down. if you were a woman you would know just how painful it is to have a child and that was because it was a gift from God nothing comes without sacrafice and hard work. If you believe all your money and all your real estate is going to do anything for you and your family think again. We who have very little have alot more we have each other and we have love for others unlike you that could give two damns about any of us and we know this.
Sorry if I ranted but somebody has to speak up and I happen to be someone who if I did go into politics half those in their would not be there anymore after all we havent changed politicians since the 70s except some newbies i knew them all and I knew exactly what was going on for a good long long time. I was a very alert smart child who lived socially and heard alot and saw alot. I do know this that because everyone closed there eyes to what was pulled on us all we lost what our parents would have fought tooth and nail and I know the ones who were ousted or tried to be were actually the honest ones that were too smart and actually dooing their jobs but if we continue to believe what you read and hear rather than to listen and believe Im not lying what would i gain. Im like the lady on the bus i wouldnt let anyone tell me because of my color i couldnt sit either. I truly wish I did decide to interact and run after Mcdougal years ago I know one thing the democrats pulled some pretty sneaky stunts like signatures on something written over something else. its been a game of who is better than who for years i say forget partys forget it all just get rid of the bad and stick those with the ability to care about the people here now and our soldier. if we need weapons to defend ourselves against governement and criminals we do have the right to bear arms. although i dont since john lennon and many others believe in weapons but i do believe they may come in handy when everything is gone and we have to hunt to eat what is left to survive……. I WISH i took more time paying attention if so I would have been in office right in back of good men like Tom Manton and Clinton who was an excellent president. And if you believe that they would allow two kennedys too get killed so close together and it was just lack of security
no it was security looking theother way…… just my opinion but I do know if your honest they dont want you in politics espectially if your democrat republicans at least just want to get in and do something the democrats are saving a lifetime of destructionand unearned paychecks and I know many who did, I even voted for many cause i thought they were good till I had to do the work they were paid to do myself. and it wasnt easy but I fought for our children in Ridgewood and I won after being attached from all sides by school boards and all sorts of dangerous sorts threatening my well being and my kids well thanks to Bill clinton and tom manton somehownthe white house got involved and ended it all with a visit from an expert from Germany in 10miniutes after a years long fight I wagered to not see another women who couldnt afford to spend what i did to fight were in my shoes, I dont have that money anymore so no longer have the shoes but if you people want to change something I suggest you start seriously thinking outside the box not listening to the box get your kids off the g ames and the cell phoones and start thinking seriously about what will you do if the day comes everything just goes down and technology fails what do you all do,
A list of tenants at the Falchi bldg…
http://falchibuilding.com/tenants
Cool wrap up story SSP, thanks!
Some like it, some hate it, life goes on.
One of the coolest things coming is at the Falchi building, over where the Doughnut Plant is – the same company that runs Chelsea Market owns this place, renovated it and is slated to be the Chelsea Market of LIC. So far they got Doughnut Plant, L’art del Gelato (same as Chelsea Mkt), Astoria Distillery, Stolle pie co (amazing!) and more… just a few mins walk from Sunnyside.
These conpanies make stuff here, you can see thru the glass like Chelsea mkt and you can buy in at least some of them for now. Pretty cool to go during the week for a great lunch….
I had this outrageous date and nut bar from Bonne Fete bakery today! And a slice of Stolle pie….
A year later and Sunnyside still looks like crap! Nothing new and exciting to talk about.
This was a terrible year for Sunnyside. The neighborhood is full of empty stores. Graffiti and garbage all over the place. I’m not big on gentrification but get on with it at least. It’s like we’re half in and half out. The commercial landlords are killing this neighborhood. Bring back the movie theater, clothing store and a better bagel place. Ethel’s birthday was the highlight of the year!
El Loco likes to moan about everything from there being too many irish bars not enough good places to eat, landlords upping the rent yada yada. Hey El Loco why dont you get off your lazy ass and open up one of those establishments you so long desire
Expressing contempt for people who miss the town they grew up in and loved, goes a long, long way toward stoking resentment, fear and anger towards new people. We are not afraid of normal change, we’ve lived with it forever. But change engineered to remove us so wealthier people who think they are hipper and better is not welcome anywhere. Please don’t make this a personal matter. Then you are playing right into the hands of those who will one day engineer change that gets you out of your home so someone willing to pay more can have it.
Anonymous- some of us that moved to the neighborhood bought terribly run down properties, worked in restoring them exhausting all our savings. Sacrificed vacations, and many other things so that we could have a home that we were proud of. The only contempt I see in the chain of responses are from people I’m assuming that did not take that risk some of us did. And if someone wants to offer me 10 times what I paid for my property should I not be glad and better still should you as a critic of progress not be happy for me to?
Your letter makes no sense. Am i not allowed to criticize. Last i checked this was a free country. Do you come from a country that does not allow free speech. Yeh, I’ll just go out and open a store. Truly moronic. No one but you can express an opinion.
You presume everyone was in a position to take a risk. That is incorrect. You also presume the increase in price is due to your hard work and stern determination against great odds. That is also incorrect. Much of your profit comes not from your hard work, which is considerable I am sure, but from market forces that have nothing to do with you. You had a downpayment, you had the physical capacity to put in work, you had technical knowhow. Good for you. Right time, right place to profit. People without a downpayment, without physical capacity will not profit no matter how hardworking and knowledgeable they are. These people are being hurt. This was a place for them before market forces attracted others here. That is all I am saying. The strong taking from the weak. Happens all the time. But crowing about it is unattractive.