NYC Approves $2B Mega-Development in Queens
Innovation QNS will build 3,200 apartment units, half permanently affordable.
New York’s City Council has approved a $2B development in Queens that will produce 3,200 apartments, nearly half of which will be designated “permanently affordable.”
A trio of developers behind Innovation QNS in Astoria—Silverstein Properties, BedRock Real Estate Partners and Kaufman Astoria Studios—agreed to include a level of affordability that exceeds the city’s minimums for apartment units on rezoned land.
Of the 3,200 units at the project, 1,436 will be permanently affordable; of those, 865 units will be reserved for households earning 30% or less of the area median income, which in Astoria is $36,000 for a family of three.
NYC agreed to let the developers increase the size of Innovation QNS, adding another 500 units to the total in the original plans filed with the city. When complete, the Innovation QNS project will be the largest privately owned housing development in Queens.
The project covering a five-block area between Northern Boulevard and 37th Street in Astoria, is the largest new housing project brought before the City Council this year.
The developers also are setting aside 142 supportive housing units and 157 for recipients of NYC’s homeless vouchers. Business and tenants that need to relocate as a result of the project can tap into a $2M legal aid fund provided by the developers.
Negotiations over the project were lengthy and said to be “contentious,” with Julie Won, the councilwoman who represents Astoria, pushing hard to increase the commitment from the developers to designate a significant number of affordable units in Innovation QNS.
The project will be built an area known as the Kaufman Arts District near the neighborhood’s southern boundary, which is currently filled with low-rise industrial buildings, parking lots, and underutilized parcels in the area between Northern Boulevard and 37th Street, NYYimby reported.
In addition to the apartments, plans call for more than 400K SF of commercial space, including a new movie theater, retail, several restaurants and office space reserved for small business owners, start-ups and non-profits, as well as doctor’s offices and medical clinics, NYYimby said.
An “arts and entertainment” plaza was part of the original plans filed for Innovation QNS in 2020.