You are reading

The influx of real estate firms upsets the long-time brokers

Rendering

Rendering

Oct. 17, 2014 By Michael Florio

The booming Astoria real estate market continues to draw real estate firms to the neighborhood.

Just three weeks after Modern Spaces opened its second office in Astoria, Highline Residential, a Manhattan-based real estate firm, said that it is opening its first location in the neighborhood in two weeks at 29-17 Ditmars Blvd.

This location will be the firm’s first in Queens. Currently, it has offices on 6th Avenue in Manhattan, one in Bedford–Stuyvesant and another in Prospect Heights.

Highline Residential comes to Astoria at a time when many large real estate firms have become active in the market. Several big Manhattan firms– such as Douglas Elliman, Nestseekers and the Corcoran Group–have developed a significant presence in Astoria.

However, the long-time Astoria brokers are not happy about it.

Ted Kouris, owner of Metropolis Realty (29-17 23rd Ave), has been operating in the Ditmars area for 29-years and thinks these firms are taking away business.

“It’s like anything, when there is too many of one business, everyone loses,” he said. “Eventually only a few will survive.”

However, he believes his business is not in any danger, since he has very deep connections.

Kouris said the market is hot in Astoria since many people are being priced out of Manhattan. However, he said while the market is hot now, it won’t last forever.

Kahn, the owner of Highline Residential, said the popular Astoria market was a large factor in his firm electing to open in the neighborhood.

“There’s no denying it’s a hot market,” he said. Furthermore, he added: “There’s a real family vibe here in the neighborhood that you don’t get in our other locations,” he said. “You can build a relationship with the community and we like that.”

Currently in construction

Currently in construction

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Amazon faces largest U.S. strike as Maspeth teamsters join nationwide picket lines Thursday

Hundreds of warehouse workers and drivers walked off the job and joined the picket line outside the massive DBK4 Amazon fulfillment center in Maspeth on Thursday morning as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) launched the largest strike ever against the $2 trillion corporation in New York City, Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco, and Illinois.

Amazon workers at other facilities across the country say they are prepared to join them to protest unfair labor practices after the IBT set a Dec. 15 deadline for Amazon to begin negotiations on a new agreement. The union was ignored.

East Elmhurst man busted for a fatal collision in Flushing Meadows Corona Park on the 4th of July: NYPD

A Queens grand jury indicted an East Elmhurst man in connection to a July 4th fatal collision at Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Yersson Diaz, 27, of Ericsson Street just south of LaGuardia Airport, appeared at Queens Criminal Court for a summons on Tuesday and was taken into custody, according to an NYPD spokeswoman. He was booked Tuesday afternoon at the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst, where he was charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.