De Niro’s Astoria studio touts community connections

Borough President Donovan Richards expressed his support for the Wildflower Studios project during a land use hearing Thursday. Rendering courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

By Rachel Vick

The Robert de Niro-backed studio planned for the edge of Astoria moved ahead with the rezoning process during Thursday’s virtual land use hearing at Borough Hall.

Borough President Donovan Richards offered developers the opportunity to outline their plans for community engagement and employment — which they said was an integral part of the project from the start.

“We have a little bit of an affinity for this part of Queens… we’re excited to be doing this project given what the city has gone through over the past 18 months; we think timing couldn't be better in terms of job creation,” said developer Raphael De Niro, the actor’s son. 

The building’s foundation is on track to be completed in September. The developers expect that there will be 500 construction jobs during the full build and around 1,000 workers a day once the studio is up and running.

De Niro said that they were looking into connecting with Frank Sinatra School of the Arts to develop internships, and that there was special consideration for the inclusion of residents in the nearby Ravenswood, Astoria and Queensbridge housing complexes in hiring.

“We think [Queensbridge] was overlooked by someone else, who will go nameless, a couple of years ago and we’re not going to do that,” de Niro said.

“I like that,” Richards replied, laughing. “This is a great project for Queens.”

The 497,000 square feet studio will sit on the edge of 19th Street and Luyster Creek, and include a carpentry studio, dressing rooms and offices in addition to soundstages. 

There will also be a commissary, but it was designed to be on the smaller side to encourage the eventual staff to venture into the neighborhood and support local restaurants, according to de Niro.

“To us, Astoria is one of the most food rich and amenity rich neighborhoods in the city,” he said.

Community board 1 approved the plan with a vote of 35 to 1 last month.