Author: J. David Goodman / Source: New York Times
New York City last week announced $180 million in new spending on Long Island City to bolster transit, fix the sewer system and attract new, good-paying jobs. Now it appears that spending was, in part, deliberately timed.
Amazon is nearing a deal to name Long Island City, a fast-growing neighborhood on the western edge of Queens, as one of two locations that would together house as many as 50,000 employees in its ever-expanding work force, according to two people briefed on the negotiations.
The other location in Amazon’s plans is outside the Crystal City area of Arlington, Va., a Washington suburb, according to one of the people briefed.
[Read more about how Amazon is nearing a deal to locate a headquarters in Queens.]
The arrival of Amazon in Long Island City could finally establish New York as a technology hub on par with its West Coast rivals. But some residents worry about the effects of so many newcomers on the neighborhood of gleaming apartment towers and low-rise manufacturing that is already straining from rapid growth.
The neighborhood has seen a swift rise in new building that began with a single high-rise office tower, opened in 1990 and belonging to Citigroup. If the name Long Island City once seemed aspirational, in recent years it has been more descriptive: Apartment towers now dot the skyline, crowding around the elevated No. 7 subway train.
There have been 41 new apartment buildings built there since 2010, according to an analysis by the city. Last year, more new apartments were built in Long Island City than in any other neighborhood in New York. The reasons, in large measure, are its proximity to Manhattan, its relatively low cost and the views.
“You can almost reach out from Hunters Point Park and feel like you’re going to touch 34th Street in Manhattan,” the local councilman, Jimmy Van Bramer, said of the proximity to Midtown Manhattan. There is also a collection…
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