Forest Hills

A quiet community with its own leafy charm

By Patrick Verel | Special to amNewYork

December 14, 2006

Simon and Garfunkel called it home, and so did The Ramones. But Forest Hills a sought-after Queens neighborhood -- is probably best known as the place where tennis got its footing in the city.

A 15-minute subway ride from Manhattan, Forest Hills offers ample shopping, transportation and park land, making it one of the most desirable places to live in Queens.

Within the 2.5 square miles of the neighborhood is The Forest Hills Gardens, a 142-acre private housing community. Only steps away from the roar of Queens Boulevard, it is quaint as a gingerbread village and quieter than most suburbs.

"There's a quality of life here that's very hard to find unless you go to the suburbs," said Joan Lebowitz, associate broker at Sara Jones Realty.

Heading down alphabetically lined up streets toward Metropolitan Avenue, Georgian and Tudor houses give way to modest one-family wood frame houses; across Queens Boulevard, massive pre-war apartment buildings dominate the landscape.

The geographic center of the neighborhood is Austin Street, which is lined with small shops, restaurants and chain stores such as Barnes & Noble.

"There's a level of sophistication here; you have a lot of large retail stores; there's a lot of foot traffic," said Vivian Barna, president of Continental Realty Group.

One ongoing issue in the neighborhood has been the large number of pedestrians struck along Queens Boulevard, which is 16 lanes wide when it cuts through Forest Hills. The number of pedestrian fatalities had dropped dramatically in recent years after the city instituted safety measures.

For Leobwitz, the mix of ethnicities that Queens is famous for makes Forest Hills the best of both suburban and urban environments.

"It's lovely because my sons' friends are from all over the world, and I think that's a fabulous experience, as opposed to suburbs where you get children from very similar cultures and backgrounds," she said.

The Buzz

Houses in Forest Hills Gardens long ago crossed the million dollar mark, but up until recently there wasn't much in the other sections of Forest Hills that could bring in that much. No so anymore.

The newest development in the neighborhood (and also possibly the hardest to miss) is The Windsor, a 21-story luxury condominium tower with 95 units that wouldn't look out of place on the Upper East Side. Apartments in the building, which is on Queens Blvd and 71st Road, were snapped up for $820,000 to $1.2 million.

With a fitness facility, a 6,000-square-foot terrace and a 1,600-square-foot roof deck, The Windsor is evidence of how the ceiling has been raised for the local market

Q&A
Russ Gundlach has lived in Forest Hills Gardens since 1998 when he left neighboring Rego Park

Why did you move to Forest Hills?
The only place I would have considered buying in Queens is Forest Hills, in The Gardens. In my entire life, this place hasn't changed an iota, and I had friends who I went to high school with who lived here, so I was familiar with it.

What do you like best about it?
It's convenient to Manhattan; it's three express stops to midtown. I also really like the pedestrian lifestyle, and Queens isn't like that, but Forest Hills is. I can walk out my door and I have everything, I have shopping, fine dining; I really don't need to leave the neighborhood.