This couldn't have come on a better day, especially with the grueling subway ride home today with its horrible delays. Northern FoHi'ers were greeted by the sidewalk in front of the new Aston condo finally being opened up for them after, what was it, years? No more having to be corralled like sheep into that narrow corridor. Oh, and I guess this means the CVS, which looks mighty impressive by the way, is about to open. What an improvement over that sad, depressing row of stores that used to be there!
Is CVS open?
ReplyDeleteNot sure, but don't think so
DeleteNot yet, walked by this evening and there are a lot of boxes around the store. The interior looks done though, so it may just be a matter of stocking shelves.
DeleteLook good. It's a shame that the sad-looking Key Food didn't get a makeover. Any reason why? Now it really stand out like a sore thumb.
ReplyDeleteThe Key Food actually did get a makeover a few years ago. Additionally, Cord Meyer actually originally wanted to tear down the Key Food as well and include it in the re-built strip--something to do with how/where on the plot of land they wanted to position the Aston. They purportedly offered Key Food a chunk of change to compensate them for the time they would be closed, but it was refused by Key Food and objected to by some neighborhood locals, so it didn't happen.
DeleteRayRay -- Key Food looks fine. I believe it is some sort of converted nightclub.
ReplyDeleteWould like something better than 'fine' for our 'hood. How about beautiful? Or is that how low our standards have fallen?
DeleteKey Food on the inside was renovated.. BTW though, I liked the stores that were Mom and Pop vs. large chain.. but I do think CVS is the best drug chain around..
ReplyDeleteI like mom and pop too, as long as they don't serve me bagels with plastic straws cut up in the cream cheese like that pathetically awful bagel place that used to be there once did.
DeleteThat bagel place was the worst. I am glad those stores are gone as well.
DeleteHopefully they'll get rid of that horrible people bridge today. They've had two out of three lanes closed up for over a year. The traffic and noise pollution is unbearable.
ReplyDeleteIs it me or is the sidewalk not level?
ReplyDeleteCord Meyer should compensate the community for its troubles by paying for Jazz Thursdays, hanging flower baskets along Queens Boulevard and planting beds on QB medians and other "dry spots" like the concrete wasteland near the taxi stand.
ReplyDeleteThey've been not only exercising their own private property rights but inconveniencing local residents for years ... not just with the scaffold but with lots of sewer and cable work under the streets that started long before the scaffold went up.
Also, as BP Katz knows, Cord Meyer owes us a "community room" from when the Windsor was built (and that project damaged nearby apartments due to improper pile driving techniques during the initial foundation construction, caused by their hope that they could save costs by the cheap method, and entailed a lot of noisy, illegal overnight construction work). They promised the community a room that could be used for Scouts, Forest Hills Moms, etc., in exchange for being allowed to build higher than the then-zoning regulations would have allowed. But, as both Katz and the Community Board are well aware, Cord Meyer wriggled out of it by first defining "community" as "the people who live in the Windsor" and then renting out the "community room" to a nonprofit.
Time for some giveback, CM, before you start getting a lot more pushback.
The "luxury" marketing for this place is a little over the top. No pool, compared with Kennedy, Gerard, Parker, Birchwood. And only GE appliances...no SubZero? No Viking? Sorry guys, it sounds like the biggest luxury will be the new-ness and the opportunity to pay for the roof garden when you want to have a birthday party for your one-year-old.
ReplyDeleteForest Hills, where we all dream of luxury but don't want to pay for it.
Is there any building in Forest Hills that has Sub Zero or Viking appliances as standard?
DeleteThis building is not being marketed as a "standard" apartment. It is being marketed as "luxury." Gerard Towers: pool. Birchwood: Pool. and so on.
DeleteEveryone knows that GE appliances = "standard," no pool = "standard," not luxury.
DeleteThe scaffolding is only part of it. They start making noise at like 7am. They've had the (very wide) sidewalk on 71 Ave. blocked for over a year and a half, and they extended that overreach into the street, where they've also blocked the equivalent of an entire lane, often blocking the whole street with lumber trucks, cement trucks etc. so we have to cross and cross back again just to get to the subway. Not to mention women having to run the construction-worker gauntlet, which is NEVER pleasant. Enough already. Finish the stupid job and give us our street back. All this aggravation for a building only an elite few can even afford to live in.
ReplyDeleteI remember when the project first started, this blog reported that an Apple store was opening there. Oops!
ReplyDeleteI don't report things unless they're confirmed. People might comment about things they say they know about; that's different. Oops!
DeleteBill de Blasio needs to build some of that affordable housing he's talking about here in Forest Hills!
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
DeleteNo thanks.
Deletewhenever all the traffic this project caused woke me up in the morning i would sign up the execs at cord meyer to hundreds of different government newsletters. I set up a dummy email acct to see if it works and my inbox would be filled to capacity within minutes with emails from the FDA and NASA, so I know they were at least a little inconvenienced as well. Childish? Absolutely . Did it give me great pleasure? Absolutely!
ReplyDeleteCVS should consider including a Starbucks concession on its premises. That would be great. There are no Starbucks on the north side of the entire length of Queens Blvd, except one in Sunnyside. It would do very good business, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteAnother pharmacy?!!!!?! Good grief. This sucks.
ReplyDeletebummer
ReplyDeleteThere will be a Starbucks with drive thru where GoldFingers used to be. There will also be a Retro Fitness gym there as well.
ReplyDeleteSad to see how everyone is a slave to the chain stores. Wish there was a mom and pop place there instead!
ReplyDeleteThe mom and pop places died, thankfully.
Delete