Developers propose new five-block residential district near Astoria's Kaufman Studios
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Renderings courtesy of Innovation QNS
By David Brand
A network of New York City developers and business leaders have released plans for a $2 billion housing and commercial project along a five-block stretch of southeastern Astoria.
The project, known as “Innovation QNS,” would take over the span from 37th Street to Northern Boulevard/43rd Street between 35th and 36th Avenues, a commercial district full of small businesses and warehouses.
The proposal includes 2,700 units of mixed-income housing, 200,000 square feet of retail space and another 250,000 square feet of space set aside for “the city’s creative industries and other small businesses,” according to developers Silverstein Properties and BedRock Real Estate Partners. The project would feature 700 units of affordable housing — at 60 percent of Area Median Income, Patch reported — and two acres of open space, while expanding the nearby Kaufman Astoria district. Kaufman Astoria Studios is a third member of the consortium.
“Working together with our partners and our community, which is filled with vibrant cultural institutions, fast growing creative industries, and diverse hard working neighbors, we can continue to mature, assuring the sustainability of what has been created,” said Kaufman Astoria Studios President and CEO Hal Rosenbluth, president and CEO of Kaufman Astoria Studios.
A proposed housing complex on 35th Avenue.
The Innovation QNS developers, who own or control the property within the five-block zone, hope to begin the city’s land use review process to rezone the M1 commercial district for residential use by late 2020 or early 2021.
Other Western Queens development proposals, including the Amazon campus project and a plan to build a new neighborhood atop a Sunnyside train yard, have met intense pushback from local organizers concerned with the potential for displacement of long-time residents and businesses.
Despite the presence of dozens of existing businesses in the targeted location, the head of the architecture firm behind the design said the project would “reactivate five largely dormant city blocks.”
“It’s this perspective on the future of urban living — to put people first — that drives us,” said Eran Chen, founding principal of the firm ODA.
The developers say the project would create 1,700 permanent jobs and 3,700 construction jobs, while generating $50 million in local spending and $18 million in annual tax revenue.
“This is a time when people desperately need jobs, and this project will serve as an enormously important stimulus for Astoria and New York City,” said Silverstein Properties chairperson Larry Silverstein.
