There were 665 new foreclosures in Queens during the third quarter of 2008, according to PropertyShark's new report (PDF here), which accounted for half of the new foreclosure auctions in New York City and helped push New York’s quarterly foreclosures to a two-year high of 1,118.

In general, first-time foreclosures were higher in the outer boroughs and relatively non-existent in Manhattan, where there were only 35 in the three months ending Sept. 30. Staten Island had the second-highest number, with 174, followed by Brooklyn (165) and the Bronx (79).  read more »

The above is a chart from research site PropertyShark, which tracks the number of new city foreclosure auctions per month. It shows the 15 zip codes with the most new foreclosures in August. Here's more on the numbers.

Today there's word that our two forthcoming ballparks, the Mets' Citi Field and the new Yankee Stadium, will open within a couple of days of each other this coming spring. The Mets stadium will host its first game April 14th, while the inaugural game at the House that Ruth Did Not Build will happen April 16th.

A couple blogs have been giving blow-by-blow updates on the construction of the facilities: The shots above come from Stadium Page, which has been documenting the Citi Field build, and Yankee site Sliding Into Home.

The cost of the new Yankee Stadium is $1.3 billion, making it the most expensive stadium ever built in the U.S. and the third most expensive in the world. Citi Field is costing a comparatively cheap $800 million. Both have reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in public subsidies.

Queens Crap scored a copy of the letter Council members opposed to the Willets Point redevelopment plan sent to City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden yesterday afternoon. The missive says, in part:

We write to share with you our absolute opposition to the current Willets Point Development Plan. The project that comes before the Department of City Planning on August 13th is far from the best our city can offer for a long-term plan that will affect hundreds of thousands of residents for decades to come…Since the first community meetings of the Flushing redevelopment process, when community residents expressed a desire to include the Iron Triangle in any long-term development plans, the details of this plan have been determined not by residents, but by the Economic Development Corporation.

 read more »

Home sales in Queens plunged annually from the spring of 2007, according to a new report, joining Brooklyn and Manhattan in steep year-over-year sales slides.

Queens home sales were down 23.7 percent from the second quarter of 2007 through the second quarter of 2008, to 2,363, according to the report out this week from appraisal firm Miller Samuel and brokerage Prudential Douglas Elliman. The second quarter sales amount--nearly 3,100--represents, apparently, a quarterly peak since 2004.  read more »

A report earlier this month showed Brooklyn home sales plunging 43.6 percent annually. And, in Manhattan, sales dropped 21.8 percent year over year. The reports tracked deals closed in the quarter ending June 30 (the Manhattan and Brooklyn ones are available ]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/real-estate/bad-times-biggest-boroughs#comments Real Estate Brooklyn Housing market miller samuel Prudential Douglas Elliman Queens Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:54:16 -0400 Tom Acitelli 71974 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2008/bus-ted-city-council-blasts-mta-expanded-service-atlas-park

Back in April, as I was trying to figure out how the hell to get out to Glendale for my interview with the Cash Giveaway King of Queens, Damon Hemmerdinger, development director for the Shops at Atlas Park, I asked his rep:

"Think ol' Dale [Hemmerdinger, M.T.A. chairman and also Damon's father] can hook me up with a closer subway stop?"

"Funny!" she said. "But the bus stop right in front is relatively new so consider yourself lucky!"

Luck is one way to put it. Some city officials call it fishy.  read more »

According to Friday's Metro, City Council members are upset about the new bus service, ]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/bus-ted-city-council-blasts-mta-expanded-service-atlas-park#comments Real Estate Dale Hemmerdinger Damon Hemmerdinger Glendale Metropolitan Transit Authority PUBLIC POLICY Queens Retail The Shops at Atlas Park Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:34:57 -0400 Chris Shott 71016 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2008/notorious-club-kalua-shuttered-health-inspectors

Regulators continue to crack down on the infamous Kalua Cabaret in Jamaica, Queens -- site of the controversial 2006 police shooting that claimed the life of Sean Bell.

First, the State Liquor Authority stripped the notorious strip club of its liquor license. Now, health inspectors have shuttered the topless juice joint for a number of unsanitary conditions, including evidence of mice.

Passionate preservationist Michael Perlman, savior of Manhattan's Moondance and Cheyenne diners, is now spearheading a campaign to reopen Queens' historic Ridgewood Theatre, which closed this past March after nine decades in operation.  read more »

"The four-car G train is just like one step above the horse and buggy days," State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn told the crowd at Wednesday night's Save the G rally at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Fort Greene.

Almost 100 G riders kicked off a monthlong campaign to increase service on the "forgotten stepchild" of the New York subway system, as Mr. Jeffries and others have called it.

"It's important to increase the intensity of the public campaign," Mr. Jeffries said, "to stress to the M.T.A. that G train service enhancements are absolutely necessary."

On June 25, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board will meet to discuss systemwide service improvements. Mr. Jeffries, who organized the rally, intends to make sure the G is a top priority. In the coming weeks, G advocates will be writing letters, sending e-mails and corralling the support of elected officials in an effort to "convince the M.T.A. to do the right thing," as Mr. Jeffries put it.  read more »

NY1 is reporting that Woodhaven Lanes in Forest Hills will shutter May 18 because of high rent:

The owners of the property had asked for a rent decrease, but the management company said they could not accommodate because of their mortgage costs. A last-ditch effort to find a new lease holder was rejected by the bank.  read more »

]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/crushing-rent-strikes-out-queens-bowling-alley#comments Real Estate Forest Hills Queens Retail Woodhaven Lanes Thu, 08 May 2008 11:40:28 -0400 Chris Shott 68949 at http://www.observer.com