(Save the date: RealShare New York comes to the Grand Hyatt, New York, NY, October 9.)
NEW YORK CITY-With development parcels becoming scarce along the East River waterfront in Northwestern Queens, Astoria – the area known for Greek culture, ethnic cuisine and family-owned low-rises and row houses—may be going vertical, and soon. Given a steady uptick in renters as well as buyers in neighborhood, investor and developer appetite is increasing steadily toward the area’s eastern end near the Triboro Bridge.
The trend comes nearly two years after the New York City Department of City Planning adopted a rezoning plan for a 238-block swath stretching from the East River roughly from 36th Avenue to 20th Ave. and as far east as the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and LaGuardia Airport. The legislation, which received a final vote by the City Council in May 2010, aims to preserve the existing scale and character of the area, while also paving the way for a “modest increase” in residential and commercial density.
Now following the rezoning, several have thrown their hats in the ring to develop on the last remaining waterfront parcels. Lincoln Equities Group – the Rutherford, NJ-based owner/manager/developer behind properties like Princeton Forrestal Village and American Metro Center in central New Jersey – are planning to construct a $1 billion mixed-use development on a seven-acre tract in Hallets Point, including retail space and seven multifamily towers with approximately 2,200 units, 20% set aside as affordable, local reports show.
While all necessary local and state approvals for the project have not been secured yet, a bill has been introduced by the state legislature to allow the land at Hallets Point –formerly utilized as industrial space – to be transferred from the New York State Parks Department to the New York City Housing Authority. At the same time, the plan has received support from Mayor Michael Bloomberg and local officials such as Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-12th District).
With Lincoln going through the land use process and expecting to break ground next year, next up, the Manhattan office of Canadian-based brokerage Avison Young has been tapped to market a nearby site at 3-15 26th Ave. between Hallets Cove and Pots Cove. Arthur Mirante, president of AY, tells GlobeSt.com that if Lincoln’s project is approved, the development will be a “perfect set-up” for the build-out and rezoning for the rest of that peninsula to residential.
“Whether or not this master plan is going to be done, individual sites applying to city planning and getting approved on an individual basis, either way this is prime to go, and city planning wants it to go,” he says. “It explains why we are getting a lot of interest from investors and developers in our offering.”
Jon Epstein, a principal at AY who is marketing the site along with Mirante, Vincent Carrega, Neil Helman and Charles Kingsley, tells GlobeSt.com that the site is an old industrial base of distribution and garages, and is no different than Long Island City along the waterfront at one time. “It has the same look, feel and touch as the rest of the waterfront where these activities, although they exist, they are really not drivers of the economy anymore,” he says.
Epstein says the team is targeting a local/regional developer that understands the changing dynamics of the borough. The asking price is $100 per buildable foot. “Our site is ideal for people who work in Queens and are employees of the new Cornell-Technion University on Roosevelt Island,” he says. “This would be not too far from there, and just as dynamic views of any where else on Roosevelt Island, and you won’t be trapped on an island.”
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