Big Asian Supermarket, Apartment Complex Coming To Astoria Block

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Get your shopping carts ready: a multi-level Asian grocery store will be constructed on an Astoria block as part of a new eight-story apartment building, according to plans presented to a neighborhood board last week.

Developer Jack Fang is planning the new building at 37-42 30th St., bounded by 38th Avenue and Old Ridge Road in the Dutch Kills area.

Now mostly empty except for a two-story house, the site will be redeveloped with a 65-unit apartment building containing the two-story, 12,000-square-foot Asian supermarket on its lower floors, said Eric Palatnik, an attorney for Fang, during the Nov. 2 Community Board 1 committee meeting.

Besides fresh produce, the market will feature "well-curated specialty Asian products," Palatnik said. It will be run by Tim Cheng, whose other businesses include Wonderful Marketplace in Flushing, D & Z Supermarket in Elmhurst and HK Food Court, also in Elmhurst.

Before construction starts, Fang will need special permission from the City Planning Commission to build an 85-foot-tall building, which is above the block's 75-foot height limit. Including the supermarket would also give the developer a zoning bonus through the city's FRESH Food Stores program.

Since Fang got a tax break through the recently-expired 421a program, a portion of the building's apartments will rent at below-market rates, available to people making 130 percent of the area median income — or about $121,000 for a single person.

Fang's company purchased the site for $9.2 million in 2020, records show.

It was not clear when construction would begin, but Fang is now at work decontaminating the site, which was long used for manufacturing, Palatnik said. The same block is also home to a new seven-story condo building scheduled to wrap up construction this year.

Once open, the new market will have competition just a few blocks away, with Korean supermarket chain H Mart soon replacing Stop & Shop on Northern Boulevard. But Palatnik said the market would help meet growing demand amid a surging Asian population in Western Queens.

"There is a tremendous Asian population in this community, and there's a tremendous interest by non-Asians in Asian food products," he said.

Have an Astoria/Long Island City news tip? Contact reporter Nick Garber at nick.garber@patch.com.