Making the Citicorp Tower Less Lone
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Making the Citicorp Tower Less Lone
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April 30. 2001
Making the Citicorp Tower Less Lonesome
By ERIKA KINETZ
337 words
Apr 29, 2001
New York Times
Page 7, Column 1
c. 2001 New York Times Company
The Citicorp tower, which reaches 50 lonely stories into the sky above Long Island City, is by far the tallest building on Queens Plaza. But after more than a decade, it may get some company of comparable stature.
The Department of City Planning is considering a proposal to rezone 37 blocks around Queens Plaza from mostly light industrial use to mixed commercial, residential and industrial use. The plan is designed to attract office tenants who might otherwise decamp to Jersey City, in the hope that Long Island City will realize its long-predicted emergence as an alternative to Midtown.
''It's 10 minutes away by subway, and it's just sitting there,'' said Jeffrey A. Bernstein, a managing director at Insignia/ESG, a real estate company.
Still, many worry that an influx of high-paying office tenants will destroy the manufacturing businesses that thrive in the neighborhood.
City officials emphasize that the redevelopment zone was carefully drawn to protect major manufacturing areas. ''It is not a blanket rezoning,'' said Hardy Adasko, senior vice president of the Economic Development Corporation.
But Jonathan Bowles, research director of the Center for an Urban Future, said that without specific initiatives for manufacturers, high real estate prices will spill over into adjacent areas, forcing out industrial tenants. ''Scores of printers, bakers, woodworkers, garment makers and other manufacturers have been squeezed out of industrial enclaves of Manhattan and north Brooklyn as a result of the same real estate pressures that could soon take place in Long Island City,'' Mr. Bowles said.
The New York Industrial Retention Network, an advocate for city manufacturers, estimated that more than 15,000 manufacturing jobs, many held by minority workers, were at risk.
Dakota Jackson, who designs and manufactures furniture, owns a factory in the heart of the proposed rezoning district, where he employs 140 people of more than 30 nationalities. ''I've always believed that one builds and develops a business within the region that one lives and supports the community that way,'' Mr. Jackson said. ''I would be forced to rethink.'' ERIKA KINETZ
By ERIKA KINETZ
337 words
Apr 29, 2001
New York Times
Page 7, Column 1
c. 2001 New York Times Company
The Citicorp tower, which reaches 50 lonely stories into the sky above Long Island City, is by far the tallest building on Queens Plaza. But after more than a decade, it may get some company of comparable stature.
The Department of City Planning is considering a proposal to rezone 37 blocks around Queens Plaza from mostly light industrial use to mixed commercial, residential and industrial use. The plan is designed to attract office tenants who might otherwise decamp to Jersey City, in the hope that Long Island City will realize its long-predicted emergence as an alternative to Midtown.
''It's 10 minutes away by subway, and it's just sitting there,'' said Jeffrey A. Bernstein, a managing director at Insignia/ESG, a real estate company.
Still, many worry that an influx of high-paying office tenants will destroy the manufacturing businesses that thrive in the neighborhood.
City officials emphasize that the redevelopment zone was carefully drawn to protect major manufacturing areas. ''It is not a blanket rezoning,'' said Hardy Adasko, senior vice president of the Economic Development Corporation.
But Jonathan Bowles, research director of the Center for an Urban Future, said that without specific initiatives for manufacturers, high real estate prices will spill over into adjacent areas, forcing out industrial tenants. ''Scores of printers, bakers, woodworkers, garment makers and other manufacturers have been squeezed out of industrial enclaves of Manhattan and north Brooklyn as a result of the same real estate pressures that could soon take place in Long Island City,'' Mr. Bowles said.
The New York Industrial Retention Network, an advocate for city manufacturers, estimated that more than 15,000 manufacturing jobs, many held by minority workers, were at risk.
Dakota Jackson, who designs and manufactures furniture, owns a factory in the heart of the proposed rezoning district, where he employs 140 people of more than 30 nationalities. ''I've always believed that one builds and develops a business within the region that one lives and supports the community that way,'' Mr. Jackson said. ''I would be forced to rethink.'' ERIKA KINETZ