LIRR Upgrade Creates New Commuter Suburb in Southeast Queens

The MTA finished electrifying 4.2 miles of the Long Island Rail Road Far Rockaway branch on June 28, adding two new platforms at the Laurelton station. Commuters from the neighborhood now reach Penn Station in 28 minutes on peak trains instead of the former 42-minute diesel rides.

The change arrives as Brooklyn and Queens home prices keep climbing and Manhattan co-op and condo medians sit above $1.3 million. City planners have already rezoned two blocks along Merrick Boulevard for mixed-use buildings with ground-floor retail, citing the rail improvement as the trigger.

Local Development Pipeline

Two sites illustrate the shift. A 180-unit rental project at 224th Street and 138th Avenue broke ground last month under the city’s Affordable Neighborhoods for New Yorkers program. Across 147th Avenue, the Department of City Planning approved an accessory dwelling unit overlay that lets owners add basement apartments on 312 lots in the Hollis section without new variances.

Both projects sit within a half-mile of the upgraded Laurelton station, which now offers 22 weekday trains instead of 14. The MTA also added real-time countdown signs at the station last week.

Housing Numbers and Next Steps

Laurelton median sale prices reached $685,000 in the second quarter, up 11 percent from the same period last year, according to StreetEasy data. That figure remains below the citywide median of $800,000 and far under Manhattan levels, drawing first-time buyers priced out of Crown Heights and Ridgewood.

Buyers can review the MTA’s published timetable and the Department of City Planning’s Laurelton rezoning map online. The next round of community board hearings on additional ADU rules is scheduled for September 9 at the Queens Borough Hall.