Most New Yorkers are used to their super doing some shady business, like moving furniture or drugs on the side. Who can blame the guy, what he’s getting paid, and so long as he fixes your sink and looks out for packages, who cares? Well, what if your super was running arms for Hezbollah? Read More
Mormons have never really been loved. From Brigham Young to Mitt Romney, theirs has long been a story of outcasts. Now, a Queens congregation is battling the same issues in an unusually bureaucratic setting: the Board of Standards and Appeals. Read More
What happens when you throw two strangers into a Subaru and ship them out to Queens to check out the new convention center site?
The Times grabbed Barbara Buzzell, 75-year-old interior designer from Long Island and Gerald Yuska, 30-year-old owner of Breakwater Surf Company from Rhode Island, and put them up for the task. Read More
Zara Realty has acquired a five-building portfolio of apartment buildings in Queens for $39 million from the large residential real estate owner Urban American.
Ken Subraj, an executive and principal at Zara, confirmed the deal and said that his company was drawn to the buildings because they are both similar and closely located to the company’s existing holdings. Read More
Much as The Observer enjoyed our trip on the East River Ferry in the fall, what with the views and croissants on board, it was still an anachronistic way to get to work, one that took twice as long as the typical subway commute (it did not help that we had to bike to the ferry, then walk to the subway to get to the office on the West Side). Still, as an alternative, it is nice.
Fewer New Yorkers seem to agree: Ferry ridership has fallen by 50 percent over the past few months, according to The Journal. Read More
Yesterday, MoMA PS1 announced that HWKN had won this year’s Young Architecture program, the king-making pavilion series held at the Queens museum every summer. The firm has released some striking renderings of their pointy project, called Wendy. The pavilion is all high-tech, too, using “nanoparticles” that make it “pro-active,” according to HWKN. Read More
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has been stamping his feet for years over his desire to land the holy grail of retailers: an Apple Store. After all, the M.T.A. bent over backwards to bringing a glowing Temple of Jobs into Grand Central. But it looks like Marty can forget about it, as Apple may be opening its next outer borough outlet in Queens County, not Kings County. Read More
Readers know we love a good carousel around these part, which is why the news that the one in Forest Hills Park may soon start spinning again brings childish glee to The Observer‘s pink hearts. And it turns out the savior is an unusual sort: the same Italian amusement operator that has revived Coney Island in recent years. Read More
When one thinks of Queens rappers, one does not think of political redistricting, but all of that is about to change.
Himanshu “Heems” Suri, a member of the idiosyncratic rap group Das Racist, is releasing his hotly anticipated solo mixtape Nehru Jackets in conjunction with SEVA NY, a community organization that’s currently focused on raising awareness about the consequences the citywide redistricting scheduled for later this year will have in the Queens neighborhoods where he grew up. Mr. Suri’s mixtape will be accompanied on several songs by young SEVA members who rap and sing in Punjabi.
The Observer made our way out to Queens to watch Mr. Suri record at SEVA co-founder and executive director Gurpal Singh’s bedroom studio. Mr. Suri was accompanied by a pair of young SEVA rappers—Lovedeep Singh, 21, and Jaspreet Singh, 17 (none of the Singhs are related, it turns out). Lovedeep’s parents don’t know about his rap hobby—he simply told them he was at a SEVA event without mentioning the recording studio. Mr. Suri and Mr. Singh told him they would break the news to his parents before the mixtape’s release party.
“He’s got strict parents, but we’re going to have to tell them,” Mr. Singh said. “He’s going to be on stage in front of the whole community.” Read More
The real estate investor Ashok Mehra has purchased a 9,500 square foot retail building in Woodside, Queens for $2.22 million.
The deal offers Mr. Mehra the chance to expand his real estate holdings into areas beyond Manhattan, where he owns at least two office buildings, 121 West 27th Street and 19 West 21st Street, which are about 100,000 square feet apiece. Read More
