NY Daily News

Powerful tower shapes up
Forest Hills is getting first condos in 10 yrs

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Architect's rendering of 21-story, 95-apartment condo tower under construction at 71st Road and Queens Blvd. in Forest Hills. The three-bedroom units could go for up to $1 million.

BY DONALD BERTRAND
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

The first new condominium residences to be built in a decade in Forest Hills are under construction and expected to be ready for occupancy in the second half of next year.

The 95 new condominium apartments will be part of a mixed-use building at 71st Road and Queens Blvd.

The Cord Meyer Development Corp. first planned an 11-story commercial tower on the prime piece of real estate but decided to rethink its plan and instead went residential with a 21-story tower.

"We are excited to reenter the residential market," said Sal Panico, president and CEO of Cord Meyer.

The new building will contain a 128,000-square-foot residential tower with 725-square-foot one-bedrooms, 1,250-square-foot two-bedrooms and 1,750-square-foot three-bedroom apartments.

All apartments will have 9-foot ceilings, washers and driers, and high-speed telecommunications and cable connections.

The residential tower also will include a fitness facility, a multipurpose area and a 6,000-square-foot terrace accessible to all residents, in addition to a 1,600-square-foot roof deck.

Below the tower will be 8,000 square feet of commercial space, a residential lobby with a 24-hour doorman, a multilevel parking garage and 1,000 square feet of community space.

Ismael Leyva, a Manhattan-based architect known for his work on such notable Manhattan projects as The Chatham, The Park Imperial and the residential condominiums at Time Warner Center, designed the building.

"We are thrilled to have been selected to design an innovative and groundbreaking development at this outstanding Forest Hills location," said Leyva.

The facade of the building will be composed of traditional beige brick with floor-to-ceiling bronze and tinted-glass windows that will define the corners of the structure, the architect said.

The residential lobby, also designed by Leyva, will include wood-covered columns decorated with black granite, an inlaid marble and granite floor, and a composition of limestone and curved, shaped-wood fascias on the walls.

The real estate market in Forest Hills is "incredibly hot. There is a pent-up demand for this kind of product," said Jacqueline Urgo, executive vice president of The Marketing Directors Inc., the exclusive marketing and sales agent for the property.

"We are going to have one-, two- and three-bedroom residences offering incredible views of the estates and the city skyline," added Urgo.

There will be few apartments per floor, so all will have corner windows, she said.

Pricing has not yet been set, but the three-bedroom apartments are expected to cost up to $1 million.

Apartment construction is expected to heat up further with an announcement expected in the coming months of plans to develop the old Alexander's department store parking lot site on Junction Blvd. and the Long Island Expressway.

Plans reportedly call for two 22-story residential towers to be built on that site.

Originally published on July 11, 2004

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its ok 21 stories?? how tall will it be 350ft//400ft?

Good news for Queens. A few more like this wouldn't hurt at all!

Update...

Queens Chronicle

21-Story Residential Tower Set To Open In Forest Hills

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The Windsor in Forest Hills is scheduled to open in September.

by Kim Brown, Central and Mid Queens Editor
April 07, 2005

If there were any doubts about whether buyers would pay Manhattan prices to live in Forest Hills, the Windsor on Queens Boulevard has laid the questions to rest.

Although it won’t open until September, The Cord Meyer Development Corporation’s 21-story condominium off 71st Road is now more than 70 percent full and has a waiting list of 1,000 people, according to Jaqueline Urgo, of Marketing Directors Inc., the exclusive sales agent for the property.

“It’s beyond our expectations,” Urgo said, “It’s opened up the luxury market in Forest Hills.”

Prices at the Windsor begin at $510,000 for a one-bedroom, while three-bedrooms on higher floors can cost up to $1.5 million. Although the prices are almost double that of other area real estate, sales of the building’s 95 condominiums have been brisk.

Nowadays, most one-bedroom apartments in Forest Hills run from $150,000 to $250,000. Two bedrooms begin at around $300,000. According to Urgo, the Windsor has “raised the bar” for real estate in the area.

Other real estate brokers say that lately the market has been very hot, but the Windsor has drawn even more people to Forest Hills. Some of those who don’t buy there, end up looking at other properties in the area.

“We are getting a lot of people from the city,” said Jacques Ambron, the president of Madeleine Realty Ltd., which sells co-ops and condos in Forest Hills, Rego Park and Kew Gardens. “It has had the effect of pushing up prices.”

The prohibitively expensive prices of Manhattan real estate is one reason more people are looking to buy in Forest Hills, according to Ambron. Although the prices are increasing throughout Queens, they are still far lower than in Manhattan and some of the choice Brooklyn neighborhoods, like Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights.

Other people who are looking for good neighborhoods, not just apartments, don’t even consider buying in Manhattan. The relative calm of Forest Hills, its close proximity to the city and the good reputation of area elementary schools are drawing people who may have been thinking about living in the suburbs.

One of the factors contributing to the Windsor’s success, according to Urgo, is that there haven’t been any new, large-scale developments in Forest Hills for over a decade.

“We knew there was pent up demand,” she said. “But until we opened, we didn’t realize the depth of the demand.”

For some people the fact that the building is a condominium and does not require board approval like co-ops, makes the apartments appealing. They are easier to buy and sell. They also require less maintenance than a house.

Some of the amenities that make the Windsor a luxury property include a basement parking lot for residents, a health club, lounge, roof deck and a 24-hour concierge.

The limestone-colored tower was designed to have an Art Deco look. Floor-to-ceiling windows at the corners of the building were selected to give apartments the maximum light possible. From the upper floors the building boasts views of Manhattan’s skyline.

While some Community Board 6 members initially opposed the project because of the traffic and congestion on Queens Boulevard and Austin Street as well as the overcrowding in schools, the project was eventually approved by a vote of 26 to 2.

Before building the residential tower, Cord Meyer, which first built homes in Forest Hills more than a century ago, had considered building an 11-story retail complex at the location. The idea was reconsidered because of a lack of demand for commercial space in the area.

For Cord Meyer, the choice to build condominiums apparently turned out to be the right one. “I only wish I had a second building to offer,” Urgo said.

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the colors are bad..

I like it. Let's line Queens Blvd with these bad boys. It's already a high-high-high traffic area, why not?

it looks very ugly...