Innovation QNS may be no more, but developers are still hopeful of squeezing housing projects out of the Astoria megaproject site.
The Hakimian Organization and Cheskie Weisz’s CW Realty filed plans for projects at 35-17 42nd Street and 42-08 35th Avenue in the Queens neighborhood, Crain’s reported. The developers acquired the adjacent sites at the start of the year for $15.8 million.
On 35th Avenue, the partners are planning a 13-story, 90,000-square-foot property with 99 residential units, ostensibly seeking to duck the 485x wage requirements that would kick in with the addition of one more unit to the development. The building would also include ground-floor retail space.
On 42nd Street, the developers are eyeing a 16-story, 56,000-square-foot property with 67 residential units. Heartfelt Townhouse Build filed plans to demolish the one-story buildings at both the 42nd Street and 35th Avenue addresses.
A third building may also be in the works, as the project filings detail a lot with a total of 234 units; representatives of the companies did not respond to requests for comment from the outlet.
The $2 billion Innovation QNS megaproject was one of the biggest set to be tackled in the city, receiving rezoning approval from the City Council three years ago. In September, however, the developers behind the five-site, 3,200-unit project split up, doomed as Silverstein Properties walked away over concerns including uncertainty about multifamily development tax policy.
The disbanding of the development team has left individual firms picking up the pieces, trying to get anything done.
BedRock Real Estate Partners is working with an affiliate of L+M Development on a 560-unit development at 35-19 Steinway Street, while Domain Companies is working on a 330-unit building at 35-45 41st Street and a 99-unit building at 35-42 41st Street.
Still unanswered is how the project-wide commitments made in the original development team’s deal with the City Council will be applied to individual projects on the five development sites.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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