By:  Serach Nissim

Long Island City is one of the key up-and-coming neighborhoods helping New York City to fully recover economically after the COVID-19 pandemic.

As reported by the NY Post, a key NYC industry rep is making the case that the Big Apple has recovered fully, and that pre-pandemic metrics such as foot traffic in Manhattan’s business districts can no longer tell the full economic picture.  Laura Rothrock, president of the Long Island City Partnership/Business Improvement District, says that with many growing neighborhoods and remote options for working and shopping growing in the outer boroughs, the strength of NYC’s recovery cannot any longer be accurately measured by looking just at Manhattan’s main business district.   “The main commercial corridors of New York City are no longer going to be just Manhattan,” Rothrock told The Post.  “Long Island City is an example that New York City is back.”

Long Island City, located in Queens just across the East River from Manhattan, has indeed become one of the fastest growing neighborhoods in NYC.  What had served for a long time as a manufacturing-industrial hub, the neighborhood has transformed with the times, emerging as the ideal mixed-use neighborhood, advocates say.  The neighborhood also still boasts ample room to grow further, being one of the few Gotham neighborhoods that still has vacant land.

In Midtown and Lower Manhattan business districts foot traffic was still down 33% in mid-2023, compared to pre-pandemic levels, a recent study found.  The dismal report indicates one of the lowest recovery rates in the United States. The report came even as NYC Mayor Eric Adams boasted that the Big Apple had recovered nearly all of the 1 million jobs it lost during the pandemic.

In LIC, however, foot traffic was up 5% from 2019 to 2022, per city data gathered as part of the Making NY Work for Everyone study, issued jointly last year by Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams.  Also, as another indication that LIC is making up for Manhattan’s losses, retail spending in LIC jumped by 35% during that period, despite dropping by double digits in Manhattan’s business core, which is greatly dependent on tourists.  In downtown Brooklyn too, retail spending was up 20%, during this time.  “We’re the only neighborhood where consumer retail spending and foot traffic were both up,” Rothrock said, comparing LIC to both the Manhattan business core and downtown Brooklyn.

Even though in 2019, LIC lost a great opportunity when plans for the new proposed Amazon headquarters were scrapped for the neighborhood, LIC is still growing strong.  As per the Post, thousands of new residential units are being built, as well as over 300,000 square feet of retail space.  Also, there are 32 hotels currently under construction or planned in the neighborhood. Many of the areas hotels, in more remote industrial areas, are currently being utilized as migrant shelters by the city.  One notable project in LIC is The Borden Complex, at 23-30 Borden Ave. The project, slated for completion in 2024, will add 680,000 square feet of industrial space and 194,000 square feet of studio space, as well as 50 loading docks.

LIC’s population has jumped from 70,000 to 100,000 from 2010 to 2020, and the growth is still ongoing, per the Post.  “Long Island City is growing so rapidly and outpacing the rest of the city,” Rothrock said.