Innovation QNS developers commit to making 40 percent of units affordable
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The developers behind Innovation QNS have proposed making 40 percent of its units rent at affordable rates. Rendering via Innovation QNS
By Jacob Kaye
The developers behind Innovation QNS, a massive, five-block development proposed for Astoria, have committed to making 40 percent of the project’s approximately 2,800 housing units permanently affordable, the Eagle has learned.
The commitment, which comes as the City Council considers the controversial project, nearly doubles the amount of affordable units previously proposed by developers Silverstein Properties, BedRock and Kaufman Astoria Studios.
In a letter sent to the local councilmember, Julie Won, and obtained by the Eagle, the development team said they’d rent 1,100 of the massive project’s approximately 2,800 units at income restricted rates.
The letter says that around 500 of those affordable units would rent at 30 percent of the area median income – those units would be available to individuals making around $28,020 a year or a family of four making $40,020 a year. The income band or bands the other affordable units would rent at was not specified and the developers declined to provide further details.
The developers claim that, if built, Innovation QNS would triple the amount of affordable units built in the area in the past eight years.
Affordable housing has been at the center of the fight to build Innovation QNS, which would bring over a dozen new buildings to the southeast corner of Astoria and essentially amount to the creation of a new neighborhood. Both the local community board and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards voted against approving the project in separate, non-binding votes issued over the summer. In their recommendations, Queens Community Board 1 and Richards both said the developers’ commitment to affordable housing was too low.
Won has also been highly critical of the project, whose fate now rests almost entirely in her hands. The project moved into council consideration after being approved by the City Planning Commission earlier this month.
Won’s office declined to comment on the letter.
But the commitment to make 40 percent of the units affordable still falls 10 percent short of what Won demanded earlier this month.
Last week, following the CPC’s approval of the project, Won said that “we will not settle for a plan that is below 50 percent affordable.”
“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,” Won said after the CPC’s vote.
“I refuse to inflict greater displacement and increase risk for evictions for working class families in my district,” she added. “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.”
Won’s demand and concerns fell in line with the demands made by Richards in his recommendation. The borough president requested the CPC and the City Council request the developers bring the affordability commitment up to 50 percent.
The borough president said on Wednesday following the publication of this story online that he was “excited by the work being done” to “true affordability.”
“I’ve been clear throughout this long and often frustrating land use process that the development team behind Innovation QNS needed to put forth a steadfast commitment to true affordability,” Richards said in a statement. “I believe today’s announced compromise of setting aside 40 percent of the project’s units — approximately 1,100 homes — as permanently affordable, while ensuring approximately 500 of those units are available at 30 percent of the area median income, represents significant progress toward exactly that.”
“With Astoria and New York City as a whole in the throes of a housing crisis, we must set a new standard when it comes to ensuring private development provides significant public benefits to the communities they seek to call homem,” he added. “I thank the development team behind Innovation QNS for its partnership in bringing true and deep affordable housing to Queens.”
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 have been made 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.
Under the new proposal, the developers say that while 25 percent of the affordable units will be privately financed – the entire project is projected to cost $2 billion – the remaining 15 percent of affordable units would have to come through partnerships and subsidies with the city and local organizations.
Of the approximately 500 units renting at 30 percent AMI, 273 would be privately financed, in addition to 438 affordable units the developers have yet to tie an AMI to.
The developers make additional commitments in the letter, including a commitment to working to hire at least 30 percent of its construction workers from the local community and to “engage with at least 30 [percent] of the project contractors that are Minority Women Owned Business Enterprises for contracting services.”
Innovation QNS’ developers, who have previously been accused of not making enough of an effort to reach out to local residents, also committed to updating the local community board on the changes they have made to the project in regards to the board’s recommendations. They also committed to the creation of a Community Advisory Board to review the project’s progress following its approval, should the City Council and mayor vote to approve it.
The 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 project saw its first supporter throughout the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure earlier this month with the CPC’s approval.
The commission voted 10-3 to send the project to the City Council for consideration.
Specifics of the affordable housing commitment had yet to be determined prior to the CPC’s vote, something a number of commissioners raised issue with.
“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,” Commissioner Leah Goodridge said while casting her vote against the project. “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.”
The City Council, which often votes the way of the local councilmember on land use issues, is required to schedule a vote on the project within the next six weeks.
UPDATE: This story was updated at 6:01 p.m., on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022.
