Action! Community board approves De Niro’s LIC film studio

Community Board 1 approved plans to build Wildflower Studios, a film production studio backed by actor Robert De Niro. Rendering courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

By Jacob Kaye

A Queens community board approved the latest plans to bring a Robert De Niro-backed movie studio to Long Island City on Tuesday night.

Wildflower Studios presented its plans to build a sizable film production studio next to the Steinway & Sons Piano factory on 19th Street and Steinway Place to Queens Community Board 1, which voted 35-1, with one abstention, in approval of the plan. 

“We’re particularly excited about the potential of this project happening in New York City, which is a city that we love and care a lot about,” said Raphael De Niro, the son of the famed actor and one of the project’s developers. “We feel that the timing couldn’t be better than now.” 

Designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group, the future film studio is financially supported by the Raging Bull actor and producer Jane Rosenthal, according to reporting by The Real Deal.

The group purchased the property from the piano factory for over $71 million in February 2020. Steinway & Sons will remain an occupant in about half of the building. 

The 497,000 square feet studio will sit on the edge of 19th Street and Luyster Creek, a small body of water off the East River across from Rikers Island. 

During their presentation this week, the developers promised the studio would bring at least 1,000 well paying jobs to the area and made a commitment to hire locally. 

They also laid out plans for developing the public waterfront area to the studio’s westside. 

The Wildflower team said the waterfront would be designed in a way that is “open and welcoming to the public.” It will be 20 feet wide and outfitted with classic city park benches to let people know it’s a public place, the developers said. 

One community board member said that she was worried that the public waterfront would experience similar issues seen in Gantry State Plaza Park last summer, including parties and late night crowds. 

“I’m concerned that this would become a second Long Island City waterfront that we’ve been seeing,” said Cristina Lastres. 

The development group told the board that the public space would likely be closed from dusk until dawn. The building will also be equipped with security cameras and guards. 

“There’s a lot of sensitivities around piracy and certain other privacy concerns [with film production] so this has to be a very secure building for people to feel comfortable shooting content and that will extend to the public waterfront as well,” De Niro said. 

To ease traffic on the narrow street, the group presented plans for turning the ground floor into a parking and truck loading space. 

The studio will also be outfitted with a carpentry studio, dressing rooms, offices and a commissary. 

The development group also made a commitment to working with the city to redesign the end of 19th Avenue, which is currently marked off with a jersey barrier. Queens Community Board 1 had requested the studio make efforts to beautify the area in a previous meeting.