By Alexander Dworkowitz
Construction on the first phase of a new luxury development in College Point is nearly complete, and residents are expected to arrive by November, the complex’s sales manager said.
Edgewater Estates, located on 115th Street off Ninth Avenue, is one of several housing developments to open along the College Point waterfront during the last several years.
“College Point is booming,” said Raymond Tan, sales manager for Edgewater. “Prices are going so high. Our prices, I think, are very reasonable.”
Built along the East River with spectacular views of Manhattan, Edgewater Estates is comprised of two phases of housing separated by a canal. The northern phase, 62 units called Dalian Court, was started in spring 2001 and is almost complete. Construction on the southern phase, 54 units called Taipei Court, is expected to finished by November 2003.
The cost of the project was estimated at $30 million.
Each three-story unit is designed for two families, with an expected 232 families able to live in the complex.
All of the units are the same size at 3,200 square feet. But prices range from $599,900 to $819,900 based on the view.
Tan said most of the homes at Dalian Court were already sold, while Taipei Court has yet to go on sale.
He described the homebuyers as young families with many members who work in Manhattan.
“They’re just starting out as a family,” he said. “They have good jobs.”
The Bond & Walsh Construction Co. is handling the construction of the project for Edgewater Development Inc.
While Tan sees Edgewater and other developments in College Point as providing much-needed housing in a quiet community, some longtime residents have taken issue with the construction.
Joan Vogt, executive director of the Northeastern Queens Nature and Historical Preserve Commission, a state agency which monitors development in the area, was worried that College Point’s infrastructure could not handle more residents.
“We haven’t gotten any amenities of any kind,” she said. “They haven’t built a school, a firehouse, no roads, nothing. It’s just more congestion.”
Vogt noted that Edgewater, like many of the new developments, was built on top of a landfill from the 1960s.
“The whole topography of the shoreline has changed since this dumping started in 1963,” she said.
With only four roads leading into the community, Tan said increased traffic was a concern for him and Edgewater’s developer.
“I live down here, so I know it’s going to be congested,” Tan said.
Tan said he wanted Edgewater Development Inc. to propose to the city having a ferry and an express bus run directly from College Point to Manhattan to help lower the number of cars on the roads.
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 141.
