“We can create neighborhoods and we have a long track record of doing so,” he says. “That gave the banks the confidence to finance these transactions.”

Its current project, slated for completion in 2013, will feature 799,247 of gross residential square feet and 12,300 square feet of retail at the base of the building. “This is just another example of how we go in as the first big developer and create a neighborhood as opposed to putting it all in one building,” Shell says. “We are laying the foundation for the emergence of a new thriving residential neighborhood.”

Located on the site of the former Pepsi Bottling Co. plant, the entire East Coast master plan is comprised of seven development pads, three of which have been completed, two rental apartment towers and one condominium. In 2003, Queens West Development Corp., a state agency responsible for the oversight and redevelopment of the East River waterfront, approved TF Cornerstone as the master developer of phase II of the construction, comprised of the last four parcels.

The development itself, however, was divided up after the three founding members of the Elghanayan family--all formerly part of Rockrose--went their separate ways in 2009. Rockrose is now under ownership by Henry Elghanayan and his son, Justin, while Thomas Elghanayan and his brother Fredrick branched off and started TF Cornerstone.

In the division of the company, TF Cornerstone took the View, a condominium at 46-30 Center Blvd., and 47-20 Center Blvd., which was the first residential tower developed at East Coast. The developer now holds the three existing East Coast towers and the four remaining development pads.

And in response to overbuilding concerns, Shell says the density of the master plan is justified given the demand for rental housing and new construction in the outer-boroughs. “We feel that now is the right time for us to roll out the last phase of East Coast,” he says. “The residential market in New York and prospects for the future of Long Island City are really strong.”