Astoria's Innovation QNS Developers Face Opponents At Tense Town Hall

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Backers and opponents of the neighborhood-reshaping Innovation QNS proposal converged at the Museum of the Moving Image on Wednesday, where a town hall meeting about the development was met by activists who called it a "land grab" that they fear will make the neighborhood less affordable.

The meeting was convened by developers who are trying to persuade the city to approve the five-block rezoning, which would pave the way for a dozen new buildings, hundreds of apartments, new cultural venues and green spaces. Developers announced the meeting after City Councilmember Julie Won and other leaders complained that neighbors — especially non-English speakers — had been left in the dark about the proposal.

The theatrics of the town hall were on full display before it even began: a block away from the museum, dozens of members of the District Council of Carpenters — a construction union that often supports development projects — stood on a street corner, where a leader instructed them to vocally support the rezoning once they got inside the meeting.

"In two or three years, Queens is gonna be busy as hell — it’s gonna be union or nonunion," the leader said. "We’re gonna go in there tonight, and we’re gonna help them decide."

A 267-seat auditorium was about half full for the first of two meeting sessions at the museum, which sits just a block to the northwest of the area that would be cleared for the development.

It began with a brief presentation by the developers: a joint team of Kaufman Astoria Studios, Silverstein Properties and BedRock Real Estate Partners. Complete with maps and renderings, it largely went over the same points already made online and at community board meetings: that the project would invigorate an underused, industrial corner of Astoria and add much-needed housing to a city facing a critical shortage.

"There’s a citywide housing crisis for any kind of housing — market-rate, affordable and senior," said Tracy Capune, vice president of Kaufman Astoria Studios. The project's current plans call for about 2,800 apartments, of which more than 700 would be considered affordable.

Those affordable units would have monthly rents ranging between $598 for the cheapest studios and $3,608 for some of the three-bedroom apartments. Nearly half would cost under $1,000 per month, according to developers.

Besides the developers, other supporters include the leader of the nearby Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement nonprofit, and Bishop Mitchell Taylor, CEO of the neighborhood antipoverty group Urban Upbound, who said Innovation QNS would create economic opportunities through housing and jobs.

"This project for us is more than brick and mortar, it’s really about the heart and soul of a neighborhood," Taylor said.

A question-and-answer session, however, revealed dissenting opinions. Carolina Korth, a 15-year Astoria resident, said she had spoken to "multiple business owners" whose buildings were slated to be demolished as part of the project, but remained unaware of it.

"If this goes up, the ripple effect will make it so that I can no longer afford to live in the community," Korth told the developers, to applause inside the auditorium.

Areti Kokonas, age 13, said she grew up in a "cramped" one-bedroom apartment in Astoria, with her family only recently moving into a larger, more spacious home. She questioned the fact that only 40 percent of Innovation QNS's affordable apartments will be larger than one-bedrooms.

"How is that going to benefit the families that live here?" she asked. (Developers responded that the details of the affordable units could still change, pending talks with the city.)

Meanwhile, outside the museum, a protest against the development was staged by the advocacy group CAAAV, which organizes in Asian immigrant communities — and has posted fliers around the neighborhood in recent days decrying the dangers of gentrification. (The area near the Innovation QNS site includes a substantial Bangladeshi population.)

Chanting "Whose Astoria, our Astoria" and "No Innovation QNS," the few dozen protesters included Farihah Akhtar, a CAAAV organizer in Astoria, who called it "a land grab."

"If this rezoning passes it will forever change the character of Astoria," she said, calling on Julie Won — whose opinion could help determine the project's fate — to oppose it once it reaches the City Council in several months, after winding its way through the city's ULURP process.

Other speakers included Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and former City Council candidate Evie Hantzopolous, who tried to rebut developers' argument that building more housing would reduce rents across Astoria by increasing the overall supply. Instead, they compared Astoria to in-demand neighborhoods like Long Island City and Williamsburg, suggesting the development would price out longtime residents and businesses.

Once the rezoning is certified by the city — likely within days or weeks — Innovation QNS will go before Community Board 1, which will recommend whether the city should approve or disapprove it. By this fall, it will reach the City Planning Commission; if approved by that body, it will arrive at the City Council, which will hold a final vote near the end of the year.

Back inside the auditorium, some attendees who had not yet spoken up had more muted feelings. Zeehan Wazed, an Astoria-based artist who was previously enlisted by the developers to paint a mural on the development site, said he had come to support the rezoning.

"I do believe in utilizing this otherwise underutilized space — that wall I painted, it was a white wall with gang signs on it before," he told Patch. "The same people complaining about it will be sitting in the park someday, reading a book. It’s a growing city with growing needs."

A few rows down sat a resident named Diane, who did not give her last name but said she lives two blocks from the development site. She had been unaware of the proposal until she spotted a flier lying on the street on Sunday, advertising Wednesday's meeting.

"No idea what it's about," she said. "Evidently, these protesters say that it's not good."

Related coverage:

• Astoria's Innovation QNS Developers Are Being Cagey, Pol Says
• Astoria's Innovation QNS Developers Share Changes Amid Skepticism
• Astoria Residents, Organizations Clash At Innovation QNS Hearing