NEW YORK CITY-After conquering the Queens waterfront with new multifamily, retail and open space, the developers at Rockrose Development Corp. are now moving their attention to the center of Long Island City’s business district—Court Square. A former industrial block on Crescent Street will soon become the home of latest Rockrose’s latest megaproject, Linc LIC, a 42-story, 709-unit rental apartment tower near the Court Square subway station and the Citigroup Building.
The $155 million project, located at 43-10 Crescent St., is the first phase in a three-part redevelopment for the 1.6 million-square-foot site. It is expected to be completed by spring 2013. “The neighborhood is right at a turning point,” says Rockrose principal Justin Elghanayan, who tells GlobeSt.com that his family began assembling land on the street as early as 1990, a time when the neighborhood was still in transition. “But a lot of different things are coming together,” he says, noting the property’s proximity to seven subway lines, the PS 1 MoMa and new office space like JetBlue at 27-01 Queens Plaza North and CUNY Law School at Two Court Square. “It has so much going for it,” he adds. Construction financing for phase one was arranged by Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Helaba and Capital One.
Rents at Linc LIC will be fairly similar to the buildings that already exist in that neighborhood, Elghanayan says. Studios will start at $1,750; one-bedrooms at $2,450; two-bedrooms at $3,350; and three-bedrooms at $4,150.
At the base of the apartment building, Elghanayan says a new grocery store and other retailers will be moving in. “We definitely want to put a supermarket in because it is so essential,” he says, noting that while a C-Town is close by on 44th Drive, Rockrose wants to pave the way for a high-end grocer like Food Cellar, similar to its previous Queens West project along the East River. “It has a really upscale, cool vibe,” he says. “We’d like to do a grocery like that for Court Square.”
Across the street, Rockrose also plans to develop two additional parcels with another 1,000-plus luxury units several years from now. Elghanayan says that while phase one will be 100% market-rate, the development program for the later building has not been determined. “Some of them could be 80/20 and that’s not totally hammered down yet,” Elghanayan says. A high-end restaurant lease is also in the works.
Linc LIC will also feature amenities such as a basketball court, squash court, a double-height health club, a game room, a screening room, a coffee lounge and three different roof decks. “When you do a mega building, one of the great advantages is that you can totally hyper amenitize it,” Elghanayan says. The project will be designed by Avinash K. Malhorta Architects, interiors by Moed de Armas Shannon and landscape architecture by Mathews Nielson. “It’s an incredible degree of luxury that people are getting. There’s nothing within a couple blocks of there that has that.”
The development is the first residential project since the three founding members of the Elghanayan family went their separate ways in 2009. Rockrose is under ownership by Henry Elghanayan and his son, Justin, while Thomas Elghanayan and his brother Fredrick branched off and started their own firm, TF Cornerstone.
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