"The View", LIC: Separating Fact From Fiction
View West From "The View"
SouthWest View From "The View"
From The North wing looking back to amazing terraces
“The View”, Rockrose Development’s long awaited condo on the water in LIC, finally came into sight last week with both a story broken by LIQCity.com and an official debut at yesterday’s New York Observer’s Condo Showcase at The Puck Building. While there has been much talk about the building all of a sudden, there are so many misconceptions and factual inaccuracies going around, I figured that I may as well set the record straight. I have followed the building for quite some time and have been privy to several details, but have been sworn to secrecy until the information hit the general public. So, now is my chance to weigh in and set the record straight. Here are some of the inaccuracies floating around:
“Starting at $1100 per square foot”. Wrong. Prices for “The View”, for now at least, start just below $1000 per square foot. While the average may be at or above $1100 per square foot, none of the prices quoted take into account the outdoor space. Two-Thirds of the units will have outdoor space ranging from 64sf-1500sf. If you factor in outdoor space (usually counted as worth about 50% that of indoor space), the price per square foot comes down significantly.
“At starting prices, I won’t get a view”. Wrong again. The building was configured in a very clever way to give every apartment South, North, or Western views. The back of the building (facing East) is a windowed hallway. The only units with any Eastern exposure are corner units that extend the length of the building and also have direct West exposure as well as either North or South exposure.
“There is no parking”. Wrong. There is a 900 spot parking garage across the street, and the current plan is to offer “The View” residents parking for $200/month.
“There is no supermarket”. True. However, a 20,000 square foot market run by Amish Markets is set to open next door this summer. There will also be a Duane Reade and an Asian Fusion restaurant in addition to the already existing wine shop in the complex.
Here are a couple more morsels which nobody has discussed to date:
-There will be a 19 year tax abatement.
-At the end of 19 years, the building, on a land lease, has the option to buy the land for $1.
-Common charges come in at a reasonable average of 79 cents per square foot monthly.
I have one more breaker here. While the building was set to be open for sales in mid-April, that has been pushed back a month, and the current target for completion has been pushed from November to January 09’.
Considering that the reason most people look at LIC is a view, “The View” delivers in style.
Ok, so the east side of the building will be hallways. That's nice. However, er, the southern view of the building pretty much sucks. Your picture shows that inconvenient truth. The northern view will be good for about a year or two, but then Rockrose's new rental buildings will obstruct the view as well.
ReplyDeleteThe Southern View shot that I took was looking back, say South East or to the left to get the terraces. If I was to turn right or West you see nothing but skyline. Looking due South, it's 50/50 from most apartments. On the North Side for now you get city an qb bridge views. The qb bridge views will be lost. However you will still get pretty decent views of the city facing left or West. Most of these apartments have balconies, so you can sit out and face due West. Of Course, the apts facing due west are best, which is about half of them. Still, I have to hand it to Rockrose, as they all have some sort of a view, and better than any building in LIC. Good planning and configuration.
ReplyDeleteYea- Great design- no garage and 8 blocks to the nearest subway. And all this for only $1100 SQ FT ON A PREVIOUS TOXIC SITE. I'LL TAKE TWO
ReplyDeleteThere's barely anything in LIC that wasn't a toxic site before! And it was cleaned up, like all are before residential construction starts. Do you really think in a lawyer-filled state or city like New York, a company would be able to build a building on toxic land in this day and age?
ReplyDeletethanks for the info, but wouldn't hurt to have a bit less broker bias stilting this account. for example, the comment re psqft prices not taking into account outdoors sqft. of course they don't - when do they? the prices are high - no need to sugar coat that - just let the product speak for itself. going overboard trying to justify the prices gives the impression of concern that prices are too high.
ReplyDelete“There is no supermarket”. Wrong. Well, ok, not in this building, but there's a organic supermarket about a block 1/2 away in the East Coast building. I know 'cause I live 3 blocks from the View in LIC for the last 2 years.
ReplyDeleteWhen I wrote the article in April 2008, there wasn't, but I did note the big organic that opened a couple of months later.
ReplyDeleteThe view form the view is spectacular, no wonder the prices, for someone who can afford it, it is a perfect apartment.
ReplyDelete