City Planning Commission to vote on Innovation QNS next week
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The City Planning Commission will vote on Innovation QNS, a massive redevelopment slated for Astoria, next week. Rendering via Innovation QNS
By Jacob Kaye
Innovation QNS, the massive, multi-block development planned for a corner of southwest Astoria, is currently making its way through the City Planning Commission, the body slated to vote next on the controversial project.
The project, which would essentially amount to the building of a new neighborhood from 37th Street to Northern Boulevard between 35th and 36th Avenues, will be voted on by the commission on Wednesday, Sept. 21.
Innovation QNS, which would bring around 2,100 new market rate apartments and 700 affordable units to the area, has already been rejected by the local community board and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards. Both Richards and members of Community Board 1 said their opposition stems from an alleged lack of commitment on behalf of the developers to build more affordable units. The concern was also expressed by scores of individuals who testified during the multiple public hearings held by the board, Richards and the developers themselves, which include Silverstein Properties, BedRock and Kaufman Astoria Studios.
But at its most recent meeting, the City Planning Commission, for a time, pushed affordability worries aside for a number of other concerns expressed by those testifying about the project in an August hearing hosted by the CPC.
Following a presentation on the project by Alexis Wheeler, the director of the Department of City Planning’s Queens office, a number of commissioners on the CPC asked why the affordability question had been left out.
“It is something that the applicant team is still negotiating and working on,” Wheeler said. “It is something that they have been actively evolving and working with electeds on, as well as [Housing Preservation and Development].”
“I don't know that we will have additional information within the Commission's window, but I do expect that in the not too distant future, we will hear more about what kind of deeper and more expanded affordability for this project,” Wheeler added.
The developers behind the project recently submitted their final Environmental Impact Statement to the commission – a document that details the project and the impact it will have on the surrounding community.
Little of the plan to build Innovation QNS has changed with the exception of two details. The number of new parking spaces the developers plan to build has decreased from around 1,400 to just under 950, according to the finalized EIS. Additionally, the active outdoor space planned for the development has increased from 10,000 square feet to 21,900 square feet.
But the affordability commitment remains the same.
In their pitch to Queens Community Board 1 – which voted against the project in late July – the developers said Innovation QNS, a $2 billion, privately funded project, would include 700 affordable units, or about 25 percent of the approximately 2,800 total units. At the time, developers committed to setting the most affordable units at 40 percent of the area median income, or $37,360 for a single person and $53,360 for a family of four.
Throughout the month-long negotiation between the borough president and Innovation QNS’ developers, Silverstein, BedRock and Kaufman agreed in writing to set aside an unspecified number of units at or below 30 percent AMI, or $28,020 for a single person and $40,020 for a family of four.
The specificity of that commitment has yet to be made public.
In his formal rejection of Innovation QNS, Richards said that he hopes the Department of City Planning and the City Council, the last body to vote on the project, require Innovation QNS to set aside 50 percent of its units at affordable rates, with a number of them renting at or below 30 percent AMI.
“While 25 [percent] of the proposed residential floor area would yield approximately 711 affordable units, and some percentage of those units would be deeply affordable, the Astoria community has made it clear that more and deeper affordability is essential to stabilizing the neighborhood,” Richards said.
Despite having already issued his advisory vote on the project, Richards remains in negotiations with the development team, a spokesperson for the borough president told the Eagle.
In addition to the residential units, Innovation QNS will bring a number of new commercial spaces, as well as areas set aside for a number of local nonprofits and community groups that have already signed on to fill the space. It also would include a renovated movie theater – Regal UA Kaufman Astoria falls within the area slated for redevelopment – as well as a number of open spaces and a food hall curated by a local food guide.
The area is currently occupied by a number of warehouses, retail space, six apartments and a P. C. Richard & Son, in addition to the movie theater.
If the CPC votes to approve the project, Richards has the option to reject their vote – an action made possible because both he and the community board previously voted to disapprove the project. If he were to reject the commission’s vote, the project would still come before the City Council and mayor.
If the CPC votes to approve the project without an objection from Richards, it will move to the City Council, which can issue a binding vote.
City Councilmember Julie Won, who represents the area Innovation QNS is slated for, has been critical of the project since first taking office in January. That could play a large factor on the fate of the project as the City Council often votes the way the local councilmember votes on a rezoning project, though there have been exceptions.
Over the summer, Won released a land use guiding principles guide, which she said the Innovation QNS has so far failed in numerous ways – she added that because the guide was issued long after the plans were presented, the project can’t be held to the same standard as future projects will be.
In a statement issued in August, following Richards’ vote, Won said that the affordability factor was a major concern of hers and said that “[s]ecuring more affordable housing for this district is my top priority.”
“We will use the borough president’s recommendations and our own land use guidelines we released earlier this week to meet that goal,” she said in August.
Regardless of how the City Council votes, Mayor Eric Adams will have the opportunity to veto the council’s decision. If he does, the City Council will have the opportunity to veto the mayor with a two-thirds majority vote.
“We remain committed to working with Council Member Won and our neighbors in the community to finalize a plan that addresses New York City’s housing crisis by substantially increasing the number of affordable homes Innovation QNS will create while meeting her goal of creating deeply affordable housing for extremely low-income residents,” Tracy Capune, the vice president of Kaufman Astoria Studios said in a statement. “The need across New York City for mixed-income housing; family-sustaining jobs; and revenue for education, infrastructure and public safety has never been greater and we look forward to finding a way to get to ‘yes.’”
