LeFrak City is a large apartment development in the southernmost region of Corona, a neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens, near Jackson Heights, built in the mid-1960s for working- and middle-class families and located on the north side of the Long Island Expressway. The complex of twenty eighteen-story (technically sixteen-story, since the lobbies are the 2nd floors and there are no 13th floors) apartment towers covers 40 acres (162,000 m²) and currently houses over 14,000 people. The development is part of Queens Community Board 4.[1]
The complex is home to a diverse population, including African-Americans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and Haitians.[2] The development remains popular due to its reasonable rents, good quality apartments, and location in a safe neighborhood.[citation needed]
The development is served by playgrounds, tennis and basketball courts, spacious fields, a swimming pool, a branch of the Queens Borough Public Library, a post office, two large office buildings, retail space, and over 3,500 parking spaces, and is a short walk to Queens Center Mall The complex is named for its developer, Samuel J. LeFrak.
The LeFrak Organization broke ground in 1960, finishing by 1969, and offered air-conditioned apartments at $40 a room. The LeFrak strategy of "Total Facilities for Total Living" meant bringing recreational, shopping, transportation, and other services to the residents.[2]
LeFrak City is also the home of the New York City Police Department's Medical Services Division.
Notable residents
Notable current and former residents of LeFrak City include:
- Kenny Anderson, former basketball player for the New Jersey Nets and other teams during his ten-year NBA career.[3]
- Noriega (aka NORE), rapper.
- Kenny Smith, former basketball player for the Houston Rockets and other teams during his ten-year NBA career.[3]
- Kool G Rap, rapper.
- Prodigy, rapper, of Mobb Deep
- Akinyele, rapper
- Big Mato, reggaeton/spanish hip-hop musician.
- Emerson Boozer, NY Jets football player
- Erick Scarecrow, Esc-Toy founder
- Mark White, bass player for the Spin Doctors
- E-Moneybags, rapper
- Harlem Knightz, rapper
- Frankie Manning, One of the founding fathers of the Lindy Hop
References
- ^ Queens Community Boards, New York City. Accessed September 3, 2007.
- ^ a b Onishi, Norimitsu. "Stabilizing Lefrak City; Jewish and Muslim Immigrants Help Revive Troubled Complex", The New York Times, June 6, 1996. Accessed October 16, 2007.
- ^ a b Cavanaugh, Jack. "BASKETBALL; Point Guard Rivalry Moves to the Big East", The New York Times, January 6, 2001. Accessed March 29, 2008. "Some of those open-court moves were picked up from Kenny Anderson and Kenny Smith, two other point guards from LeFrak City, the vast housing complex in Corona."
External links
- "LeFrak City: One of (the) Largest Housing Complexes in Queens" from About.com
- A Developer's 30: LeFrak's Queens
- LeFrak Organization, developer's website
- Queens Times Ledger LeFrak City Library still closed after two months, article about flood damage
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