LeFrak City, Queens

LeFrak City is a large housing development in the southern most region of Corona a 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. [ [http://www.nyc.gov/html/cau/html/cb/cb_queens.shtml Queens Community Boards] , New York City. Accessed September 3, 2007.]

The complex was once home to large Jewish as well as Japanese expatriate communities in the 1960s, while the 1970s saw increased numbers of South Asian, mainly Indian, residents. However, in the 1980s LeFrak City became largely African-American and was known for drugs and gang violence. In 1970, whites were 82% of the complex's population, declining to 25% in 1980 and 9% in 1990, while the black population rose from 8% in 1970 to 67% in 1980 and 79% in 1990. In the 1990s, an influx of Russian immigrants and immigrants from other former Soviet republics (especially Bukharian Jews) and Muslim immigrants from Africa moved in to the development.

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.Onishi, Norimitsu. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E6D61F39F935A35755C0A960958260 "Stabilizing Lefrak City;Jewish and Muslim Immigrants Help Revive Troubled Complex"] , "The New York Times", June 6, 1996. Accessed October 16, 2007.]

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.Cavanaugh, Jack. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE2D9173AF935A35752C0A9679C8B63 "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."]
*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, rapper, of Mobb Deep used to live in LeFrak City
*Big Mato, reggaeton/spanish hip-hop musician.
*Emerson Boozer, NY Jets football player, lived in the Peru building.
*Mark White, bass player for the Spin Doctors

External links

* [http://queens.about.com/od/realestateandapartments/g/lefrak_city.htm "LeFrak City: One of Largest Housing Complexes in Queens"] from About.com
* [http://www.queenstribune.com/archives/anniversaryarchive/anniversary99/been_doin/tb_an_doin02.html A Developer's 30: LeFrak's Queens]
* [http://www.lefrak.com/ LeFrak Organization] , developer's website
* [http://www.timesledger.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18907130&BRD=2676&PAG=461&dept_id=542415&rfi=6 Queens Times Ledger LeFrak City Library still closed after two months] , article about flood damage