Long Island City is a trendy New York neighborhood for young people

Brands like Macy's, Ralph Lauren, Gwynnie Bee and Madewell have opened offices in Long Island City, although local retail is more focused on convenience stores and savings stores.

"It's a melting pot in Long Island City," says TJ Kawamura, a 25-year-old computer strategist for Compound Asset Manager. He moved from Miami to Long Island City a year ago, but was born and raised in Manhattan.

"It's an oasis away from Manhattan." Being in real estate, I like being in areas that are growing rapidly and seeing how changes happen in real time. "

Oliver Reimers, 33, is another transplant. He left Frankfurt, Germany, after being hired as Director of Legal Services for JetBlue Airways, which opened an office in Long Island City in 2012. He lives in one of the new skyscrapers. Towers with a basketball court and a rooftop pool overlooking the skyline, paying $ 2,970 a month for a one bedroom apartment.

"I have friends in Manhattan who have a studio at about the same price – and they face the wall of the next building," says Reimers, who has embraced everything the neighborhood has to offer. "It's like it's its own little village, it has everything you need and it's cheaper than going out to Manhattan."

Forgash also says that he likes how much the neighborhood has evolved. "I enjoy gentrification – it's a playground for adults and kids," he says.

Of course, not everyone is so excited.

Michele Melnick, 45, recently led a technology consulting business in the nearby city of Long Island. She tells Make It that there are infrastructure issues in the neighborhood, including overcrowded metro cars, traffic jams, lack of parking and flooded buildings.

"None of these real problems have been solved, and the truth is that whoever lives here and has to live with that, they know that nothing will happen overnight," Melnick said.

And gentrification takes its toll: 5Pointz Aerosol Art Center, a space covered with graffiti murals on old buildings, which Time Out New York once called "the city's most spectacular showcase of street art", is becoming 5 Pointz condos, for example.