Long Island City Landowners Team-Up On Former Amazon Site

NEW YORK CITY – Long Island City landlords have formed a coalition to create a community-centered framework for the development of 28-acres of land in the Queens submarket.

Toward the end of summer, landlords who include real estate firms Simon Baron Development, TF Cornerstone and L&L Mag united for a discussion about developing the site slated for Amazon’s headquarters, and in and around the waterfront,  Matthew Baron, president of Simon Baron Development, tells GlobeSt.com.

Fronting the Anabel Basin in Long Island City, land use for the 28-acre parcel serves to cater to the local community, and the new framework for the project will center on a vibrant, 24/7 community on the waterfront. To meet that goal, the real estate firms are meeting with the local community board, resident committees and local politicians. “It’s a real opportunity to create a comprehensive framework for the entire sub-district,” Baron said.

The approach strays from the one taken when Amazon was set to move into the submarket, where the local community was not weighed as heavily. This time around, as it concerns local development, new and longtime residents will have a say in what they want to see on the 28-acre parcel of land, according to Baron.  “We’re taking a bottom-up approach to see what the community wants here first, rather than dealing with that later,” he said. “We want to include community input, which didn’t happen before when Amazon was coming here.”