LEFRAK CITY, QUEENS

'LeFrak City' is a large housing development in the Corona neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens, 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]
Once home to a large Jewish community, in the 1980s LeFrak City became largely African-American and was known for drugs and gang violence, but times changed again in the 1990s as an influx of Russian immigrants and immigrants from other former Soviet republics came to the area. LeFrak City continues to bustle, offering spacious apartments at reasonable rates. However, crime remains a problem in the neighborhood.
The development is also served by playgrounds, tennis courts, 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. 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. From the start, this housing for working class families was a success.

Contents

Notable residents

References

External links

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.Cavanaugh, jack. "BASKETBALL; Point Guard Rivalry Moves to the Big East", ''The New York Times'', January 6, 2001. Accessed July 5, 2007. "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."

★ Noreaga (aka NORE), rapper.

★ Kenny Smith, former basketball player for the Houston Rockets and other teams during his ten-year NBA career.

★ Kool G Rap, rapper.

★ Prodigy, of Mobb Deep used to live in LeFrak City, rapper

References

1. Queens Community Boards, New York City. Accessed September 3, 2007.

External links

★ "LeFrak City: One of Largest Housing Complexes in Queens" from About.com

★ A Developer's 30: LeFrak's Queens

★ LeFrak Organization, developer's website