Innovation QNS faces first community board hurdle
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The proposed area for Innovation QNS, a five-block development that will include housing, retail, community space, open space and a movie theater. Screenshot via CB1/Zoom
By Jacob Kaye
The developers behind Innovation QNS began the city’s land use review process in earnest Wednesday night, presenting its most concrete plan for the massive five-block development in Astoria to this point.
The creators of Innovation QNS, a $2 billion project eyed for the blocks between 37th Street and Northern Boulevard and from 35th to 36th Avenues, presented the latest plans to Queens Community Board 1’s Land Use Committee on May 18.
The two-hour meeting was not without conflict, reflecting what has been a contentious lead up to the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure – the official process developers must go through in order to get the green light for projects that require a rezoning.
A group of activists, local elected officials and several community board members themselves have been critical of the project, being led by Silverstein Properties, BedRock and Kaufman Astoria Studios. They’ve accused the development team of not being forthcoming with their plans for Innovation QNS and have said that the proposal, which includes the building of a dozen new buildings, doesn’t mesh with the existing neighborhood and could spell doom for those who live and work nearby.
Those criticisms were repeated Wednesday night.
“When you look at a bird's eye view…it really doesn't fit within the neighborhood,” said Jeffery Martin, a member of CB1.
The development team attempted to assuage those concerns and convince board members that the neighborhood is in need of a development that they say will bring needed housing, open space, homes for community groups and a link to connect the area’s commercial corridors.
“We see this plan as an opportunity to build on the good things happening around [Kaufman Astoria] Studios, around the Museum of the Moving Image,” said Tracy Capune, the vice president of Kaufman Astoria Studios. “Let's bring the positive energy down 35th Avenue, all the way to Northern Boulevard and move it north along Steinway Street.”
She said that “controlling five city blocks is a tremendous opportunity and a unique one to build extraordinary community amenities into our plan.”
“Amenities that can help address some of the challenges the neighborhood faces, like open space,” Capune added.
In a statement to the Eagle, spokesperson for Innovation QNS highlighted the opportunity generated by the investment from private funds, rather than public dollars.
“The City’s formal review process is designed to gather input from the public, and we’re glad to receive that input even as we continue to make the case that New York City – perhaps now more than ever – needs this $2 billion private investment that will create urgently needed mixed-income homes and 5,400 jobs, while generating hundreds of millions of dollars to support infrastructure, education and public safety,” the spokesperson said.
The plan, as it currently stands, includes two-acres of open space scattered throughout the site, including a park that spans about one-third of the block between Steinway Street and 41st Avenue, where a playground is currently situated.
A rendering of Innovation QNS, a five-block development project currently making its way through the city’s land use review procedure. Rendering via Innovation QNS
The open space was at the center of some of the disagreements between board members and developers Wednesday.
The open spaces, which are private but will be open to the public from the early morning hours until around 10 p.m., are mostly situated in between buildings, which board members said wouldn’t allow for active outdoor enjoyment by community members.
“We still believe that they're not truly open spaces for recreation,” said Elizabeth Erion, co-chair of the board’s Land Use Committee.
Eran Chen, the founding principal and executive director of ODA, an architectural group working on the project, took exception to the criticism.
“I'm a bit surprised about the feeling that these spaces, which are totally open to the public and are natural extensions of the sidewalk…are not embraced as a public space,” Chen said.
Gerald Caliendo, co-chair of the Land Use Committee, said that while he does embrace the open space and the need for it in the neighborhood, he feels that it may come at the expense of the surrounding neighborhood, which includes a number of residential blocks.
“We want development, but we don't want it to kill us and we want it to benefit us,” Caliendo said. “We don't want it to be isolated. We want it to blend in. We appreciate the fact of the [open spaces on the corners], but it's debatable whether they're really for the benefit of the community other than for the shoppers.”
Activists and community members protesting Innovation QNS during a town hall meeting on the project in April. Eagle file photo by Liam Quigley
Caliendo and other board members suggested alternative rezoning options, shifting the project further toward and onto Northern Boulevard, rather than near residential streets.
“You have to respect the community with which you are entering – that's our point,” Caliendo said.
Shared for the first time Wednesday was the results of the environmental review of the project, which found that it may bring in more density than the neighborhood’s subway stations – the 36th Street stop and the Steinway stop on the R and M line and the 36th Avenue stop on the N and W line – could handle.
The study found that there would be considerable impact to the southbound N and W line in the a.m. peak hours.
“In order to mitigate this, New York City Transit would need to add two additional trains to the peak area – the current system could handle one additional train set,” said Linh Do, the senior vice president of environmental and land use planning at AKRF, which conducted the review. “So with what we have considered, the transit impact might be unmitigated.”
Current plans for Innovation QNS feature space for a number of community groups, including Urban Upbound, HANAC, the Floating Hospital and the Queens Public Library. It also makes way for around 2,800 apartment units, 700 of which will be marketed as affordable – a portion of the affordable units will be designated for senior housing. It would also include a food hall, led by Joe DiStefano, a Queens-based food tour guide.
The Regal UA Kaufman Astoria Movie Theater, which currently sits at the edge of the development area, will be rebuilt and renovated further north, toward Northern Boulevard.
Innovation QNS has been in the works for around half a decade, with various configurations of the plan being introduced and revised. One constant throughout the different iterations of the plan however, is the desire to turn the neighborhood, currently populated by a number of warehouses, residential buildings, retail space and the movie theater, into a residential and commercial anchor in Astoria.
Developers have gotten pushback along the way – former City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer denounced the plan the first day it was introduced.
That pushback has come to a head in recent months, as the development team prepared to certify the project for review.
City Councilmember Julie Won penned a public letter to Innovation QNS, asking them to meet a number of demands regarding community involvement and outreach, withholding her support until those demands were met. Though her support is not entirely necessary, she will hold a large amount of sway over the votes of her council colleagues as the lawmaker who represents the area where the project is located, when it eventually comes to a vote in the council.
Councilmember deference, a longstanding tradition that gave the local councilmember the final say on land use projects that came before the City Council, was challenged last year in Manhattan when former Councilmember Ben Kallos opposed a rezoning to build a blood center on the Upper East Side. The rezoning was approved with a vote of 43-5.
Innovation QNS developers held a town hall meeting in April, which was met by dozens of protesters – a number of local supporters also showed up to the meeting to discuss the potential benefits of the project, including short-term construction and long-term jobs.
Following the town hall, Won demanded the developers not certify until they conducted more outreach and addressed a number of community concerns. They certified several days later.
The community board’s review of the project will continue in the coming weeks. On May 25, the board will hold a public hearing inside the Museum of the Moving Image on the project. On June 1, the Land Use Committee will meet again and issue a vote on the project.
The project and the committee's recommendation will be brought to the full board for a vote on June 21. The community board’s recommendation on the project is advisory.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards will hear from the developers during a Land Use Public Hearing, where members of the public will be allowed to submit testimony. He’ll then issue an advisory vote.
The project will then head to the City Council.
Though it’s unclear which way the committee or board will vote on the project, Caliendo suggested the group of protesters present at the previous town hall and commenting relentlessly in the Zoom chat box during Wednesday's meeting may have some sway.
“We're looking at it as a community board, not as a developer,” Caliendo said. “We have to face that mass of people that you heard in the Museum of the Moving Image – not today, not tomorrow, but 10 years from now after this project is approved and built. It doesn't go away. I've been doing this long enough to know that.”
