Controversial Innovation QNS project approved by City Planning Commission
/
Innovation QNS, a massive, five-block redevelopment project proposed for Astoria, was approved by the City Planning Commission on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022. Rendering via Innovation QNS
By Jacob Kaye
Innovation QNS – the largest housing and commercial development proposed for Queens in decades – was given the thumbs up by the City Planning Commission on Wednesday.
The CPC’s 10-3 vote marks the first time the five-block development proposed for the southeast corner of Astoria has been approved by a city body since it began making its way through the city’s land use review process in April.
The local community board’s land use committee, the full board and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards all voted against the project in non-binding recommendations made earlier this summer. At each step of the way, the developers behind the project have been criticized for not upping the amount of affordable units offered in the proposed 2,800-apartment development.
But Innovation QNS has finally found a supporter in the CPC, and particularly in its chair, Dan Garodnick.
“Innovation QNS is a unique opportunity to create nearly 3,000 homes, including hundreds of permanently affordable homes, that will change the lives of thousands of New Yorkers, providing them with stability in a vibrant neighborhood where little of that stability currently exists,” Garodnick said prior to the vote. “We should not let such an opportunity pass us by.”
The nine other commissioners who voted in favor of the $2 billion, 2.7 million-square-foot mixed-use development, echoed the comments made by Garodnick.
“I think 2,800 apartments, many of them affordable, is really important,” said commissioner David Gold. “Let’s let good not be the enemy of the perfect.”
But exactly how many units will be made permanently affordable, and at what price, has yet to be determined. That question has been at the heart of the project’s controversy since its inception and has continued to concern those who will ultimately determine whether or not it will be built.
Innovation QNS, a $2 billion, 2.7 million-square-foot mixed-use development, was first proposed in 2020. The project, if ultimately approved, would see the construction of over a dozen new buildings from 37th Street to Northern Boulevard between 35th and 36th Avenues. The buildings, some of which would reach 27 stories high, would house offices, community space, open green space, a new movie theater – Regal UA Kaufman Astoria falls within the area slated for redevelopment – and approximately 2,800 new apartments.
The development team, which is composed of Silverstein Properties, BedRock and Kaufman Astoria Studios, initially planned to make 700 units, or about 25 percent of the 2,800 units, permanently affordable. The most affordable of those units would be available to those making 40 percent of the area median income, or $37,360 for a single person and $53,360 for a family of four.
That was the plan when Queens Community Board 1 voted 24 to 8, with 4 abstentions, against the project in June.
As per the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, which is required of all projects that include a rezoning, Innovation QNS was next considered by Richards.
Throughout the negotiations between the borough president and the developers, Innovation QNS 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.
But the commitment wasn’t strong enough, Richards said in his decision.
The borough president, who submitted his advisory opinion on the project with the city less than hour before his deadline, said the developers “did not commit to increasing the total number of affordable units or affordability levels to thresholds that would make this project feasible for Queens residents.”
He recommended that the CPC and the City Council, which will be the next government body to vote on the project, urge Innovation QNS’ developers to set aside 50 percent of its units for affordable housing, making at least some of them rent at or below 30 percent AMI.
“New York City is in the throes of a housing crisis, with Astoria families feeling that crush harder than most, but we have an incredible opportunity before us to reverse this tragic trend,” Richards said in a statement on Wednesday following the CPC’s vote. “I stand by my recommendation that certain commitments be made by the Innovation QNS development team to meet this moment, such as significantly increasing the number of affordable housing units and expanding the lowest affordable income band to those earning 30 percent of the area median income.”
“I have a deep respect for the City Planning Commission and its work, and I am hopeful today’s vote will lead to a healthy dialogue and community-first solutions as Innovation QNS proceeds to the City Council,” the borough president added. “I remain in close contact with the developers, my fellow elected officials and all our community stakeholders, and will continue to push for true community-first solutions on the issues of affordability and equity.”
Innovation QNS has received fierce backlash from a number of local residents, as well as the local community board and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards. Eagle file photo by Jacob Kaye
Affordability concerns were at the heart of the no votes from CPC commissioners Leah Goodridge, Juan Camilo Osorio Botero and Raj Rampershad.
“When we have large scale luxury development like this with only about 25 percent affordable housing, I strongly feel like it is an inadequate amount of housing,” Goodridge said.
“I do think it's a very passive and somewhat illogical approach to wait for the market to somehow give us affordable housing by providing so many unaffordable units,” the commissioner added. “While the amount of apartments may be privately financed and may be a lot, it's still the same 25 percent that we see here every day.”
Several members of the commission issued their votes in favor of the project, while carving out time to express their desire for more affordability.
“We are having more of these projects in neighborhoods where real displacement is going on,” said commissioner Orlando Marín. “So, my vote is yes, and I hope that we will continue the conversation around displacement and poverty in communities.”
Tracy Capune, the vice president of Kaufman Astoria Studios, celebrated the CPC’s decision in a statement on Wednesday.
“The need for affordable homes; family-sustaining jobs; public open space; and expanded services for immigrants, seniors and young people has never been greater, and today’s overwhelming approval of Innovation QNS by the City Planning Commission is an important step toward delivering all of that and more for our neighbors in Astoria,” Capune said.
The project will head next to the City Council, potentially the second to last step in the ULURP process.
The likelihood of whether or not the project passes the City Council and heads to the mayor for approval rests with City Councilmember Julie Won – the council typically votes on rezoning projects the way of the local member.
Won blasted the CPC’s vote on Wednesday and said that she has “serious concerns” about Innovation QNS.
“The City Planning Commission chose to rubber stamp this plan without significant commitment for deep affordability to meet the community’s need for affordable housing,” Won said in a statement. “The developers continue to disregard the community’s voice, choosing to move forward with a project that received major backlash at town halls this spring and the overwhelming disapproval by Queens Community Board 1.”
“I have requested for the development team to return to the community again with modifications and we will not settle for a plan that is below 50 percent affordable,” she added. “I refuse to inflict greater displacement and increase risk for evictions for working class families in my district…My apprehension for this project remains and I have serious concerns that this project will displace many immigrant and working class residents that call this part of Astoria home, as landowners worry about their profit margins.”
In March, shortly after Won first took office, the councilmember went on a tour of the area proposed for redevelopment. Soon after, she issued a public letter to the developers, and said “the amount of community engagement is insufficient for a project of this scale that will deeply impact not only those in the immediate vicinity, but also will have lasting impacts on the neighborhood as a whole.”
Won has since 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.”
A number of large-scale development projects throughout the city have faced similar pushback from progressive lawmakers in recent years. The developers behind One45, a development planned for Harlem, pulled their application after the local councilmember said that she’d vote against the project.
But pushback doesn’t always spell doom for developers. Earlier this month, City Councilmember Tiffany Cabán, one of the most left-leaning lawmakers on the council, issued her support for Halletts North, a mixed-use development in Astoria.
In announcing her support, Cabán said that while initial proposals for Halletts North, which plans to bring around 1,300 new apartment units into the neighborhood, didn’t meet her standards, she was swayed by a number of commitments made by the developers. Included in those commitments was a promise to deepen and expand the affordable units offered in the development. Around 260 of the units will be designated permanently affordable.
