“For decades, everyone said Long Island City has enormous potential,” said Dan Miner, SVP of Business Services for Long Island City Partnership. “After years of effort on the part of the business community and the Bloomberg Administration, it’s clear that Long Island City has finally arrived.”
PK Metals is an active member of the Long Island City Partnership, and we have seen firsthand the growth over the past few years. Although our 80 employees, including our recent acquisition of e-Green Recycling Management LLC, and 20 acre R2/RIOS certified e-waste and metal recycling facility is on Long Island, we are actively looking to expand in Long Island City.
“Economic development really began to accelerate in the early 2000’s, when Brause Realty bought and renovated the Brewster Building. They soon signed their first major tenant, when Metlife moved their New York City headquarters to Long Island City,” said Miner. From then on, commercial development really began to accelerate.
Another major development was the $80 million capital campaign to improve Queens Plaza, Court Square and Jackson Avenue. An outmoded parking garage was replaced by a new office tower housing the headquarters of the NYC Department of Health, and 3,000 employees. A parking lot was replaced by a new park. LIC Partnership created the LIC Business Improvement District to support these efforts with extra marketing, business attraction and sanitation services.
Major corporations have moved their headquarters to Long Island City over the past year. Jet Blue opened their new 200,000 square foot headquarters in April. In July, Publicis moved their New York City Headquarters to a 100,000 square foot space as well. CUNY Law School will be relocating to their campus to Long Island City in the fall. The Cornell applied science campus planned for nearby Roosevelt Island is sure to attract tech companies, sparking talk of western Queens becoming a new Silicon Valley.
Long Island City has managed to balance growth in both residential and commercial real estate development. The centerpiece of its rapidly expanding residential community are the many beautiful high-rises on the LIC waterfront, with 5,000 apartments planned for the giant Hunters Point South project, as well as within central LIC. LIC has also become a tourism district, with budget conscious tourists from around the world flocking to LIC’s 18 recently built hotels. A less glamorous story is that Long Island City is still one of the City’s largest concentrations of industrial businesses which LIC Partnership supports as well.
This trend shows no signs of slowing down. “Long Island City offers a lifestyle that suits both commercial and residential interests,” said Miner. “We can provide the best and brightest in the world a great place to work and live, only a five minute subway ride from midtown Manhattan..”
Miner and his colleagues at the Long Island City Partnership have promoted sustainability initiatives such as energy efficiency surveys and solar PV system installations. They published an online Green Guide to assist businesses seeking how to save energy, resources and money at the same time. PK Metals supports these sustainability initiatives. Our most recent recycling event for the Brooklyn Navy Yard occurred at no cost to the tenants, and we saw a robust demand for these recycling initiatives.
Miner is quick to point out that this is just the beginning of a bright future for Long Island City. “As I like to say, Long Island City has arrived. Our job is to continue to build on our growth, and ensure that Long Island City is one of the best places to live and do business in the world.”
