Bye-Bye Queensboro Garage

I'm no fan of big developments.  But today's Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2008/05/27/2008-05-27_vacant_long_island_city_garage_might_go_.html
 reports that a developer may be tearing down one of the ugliest buildings
in Queens: the now-vacant parking garage at Queensboro Plaza. In its place
will be an office building. (Oh, well, at least it won't be another luxury
coop).

You can get a good view of the garage if you look to your right just as
Flushing-bound 7 train leaves the Plaza. Tall weeds now grow on its roof,
while at street level the storefronts have been vacant for years. The
concrete monstrosity, which the News likens to a bunker, is straight out of
the Cold and Sterile school of modern architecture. Like so much of
Queensboro Plaza, it just reeks of urban blight. And why? At a time when
any place convenient to Manhattan is booming, QB is still a seedy
collection of largely empty office buildings, downscale eateries and
"gentlemen's" clubs. At night prostitutes strut their stuff. Yes, there are
those luxury apartment houses and hotels sprouting up like weeds on the
north side, but they do nothing for the community.

Hopefully the demolition of the municipal garage will help spur a
revitalization to this unfortunately ugly gateway to Queens.