Western Queens has recently—and finally—found its moment after decades of fallen expectations. With its proximity to Midtown and access to transportation it had always seemed to be the next neighborhood as people increasingly took to the outer boroughs, but the neighborhoods never quite made it.
Now with nearly 10,000 residential units in the pipeline, trendy restaurants, a hotel boom, pressure to grow in every real estate sector, Long Island City and Astoria are experiencing growing pains, much of which stem from the success of the arts and culture embedded in Western Queens.