Modern Spaces NYC

Multi Housing News - Modern Spaces Market Report

January 30, 2012

Long Island City, N.Y.—Last year was a very good year for Long Island City, N.Y., which
leveraged the rising rents in Manhattan and Brooklyn to attract many first-time residents.
That’s the peachy assessment from the most recent Orange Report, a market analysis by
Long Island City-based boutique brokerage and marketing firm Modern Spaces.
The Orange Report, named for the color of Modern Spaces’ logo, is released every six
months. Its mission is to assess the stability and market conditions of Long Island City, a
neighborhood quickly catching on with renters and buyers.
According to one seven-year resident of Long Island City, that new acceptance among those
from other enclaves makes complete sense.
“It’s a real neighborhood,” Modern Spaces president and founder Eric Benaim, a Long Island
City resident since 2005, tells MHN. “It feels like a small town where everyone knows each
other. There are lots of restaurants, and a lot of new restaurants coming in. We have four
coming in in the next month or so, including Corner Bistro from
Manhattan.
“You could dine in Long Island City for two months straight without repeating a restaurant.
There are comedy clubs in the neighborhood, there‘s a performing arts theater, and more
than 200 museums and galleries in what is the second largest arts district in New York.
There‘s no reason to leave the neighborhood.”
About six or seven months ago, the vacancy rate in Long Island City apartment buildings
stood at 3.5 percent. Today it is 2 percent, Benaim reports. Long Island City’s commuter
friendliness is a big reason apartments are filling. It takes less than five minutes from Long
Island City to Grand Central Station on the 7 train, meaning folks can get to work in as little
as 10 minutes, Benaim says.
The for-sale housing is also going fast, he reports. The community currently has about 200
units for sale, and they’re being sold at a rate of about one a day. The average price per
square foot in Long Island City is about $750, compared to $1,100 to $1,200 in Manhattan
and $800 to $900 in Brooklyn.
Buyers will find onebedrooms
priced at about $475,000 to $525,000, two-bedrooms in the high $700,000s and
three-bedrooms in the $900,000s.
In the years since Benaim moved to the enclave of 60,000, the community has added three
supermarkets and two pharmacies. Two new schools are currently under construction, Jet
Blue is moving its headquarters to the neighborhood, and CUNY Law School is poised to
move there as well. Two large rental towers will open in the next month, adding another 700
rental units to the district.
Concludes Benaim: “Long Island City has long been a great neighborhood, and it’s shaping
up to become an even better neighborhood. That’s the case whether you’re an investor or a
resident.”