Block-Sized Astoria Housing Development Gets Thumbs-Up From Board

ASTORIA, QUEENS — An industrial Astoria block may soon be transformed to include apartments, art studios, two trade schools and more after getting a conditional thumbs-up from a community board last week.

Two developers are teaming up in the bid to build a pair of eight-story apartment buildings on a block that spans from 34th Avenue to 33rd Road, between 11th and 12th streets in western Astoria.

To do so, they must convince the city to change the block's low-density zoning to a higher-density scheme that would allow for more homes, taller buildings, and affordable housing.

After an initial appearance before Community Board 1's land use committee last year, the developers returned on Thursday, where they laid out plans for the full-block project and ultimately won board members' support — with some reservations.

The two buildings will have 352 total apartments — of which 88 will be affordable through the city's mandatory inclusionary housing program. They will also include a new location for Andromeda Community Initiative — a trade school that will relocate from its existing home in Long Island City — as well as York Studios, a film and television production trade school with locations in the Bronx and Maspeth.

Ground-floor retail, artist studios, and tech-oriented office space will also be included; as will a 24,000-square-foot wholesale food distribution center and a 10,000-square-foot community space reserved for a local nonprofit.

The block is currently home to low-rise garages and a single two-story apartment building — characterized by "a lot of blank, brick street walls" with few trees and little pedestrian activity, presenter Frank St. Jacques said.

"Really, the goal of the project team is to bring new investment to the Ravenswood area, resulting in new housing and job-generating uses," said St. Jacques, an attorney for developers JPP 33rd Street LLC and Lily & John Realty Inc.

Those firms — based in Long Island City and Great Neck, respectively — are led by John Pantanelli and John Chang, according to public records.

Apartment sizes are questioned

The trade-school building will include 204 of the new apartments, including 51 of the affordable units. Half of its apartments will be one-bedroom, along with one-third slated to be two-bedrooms, 10 percent studios, and seven percent three-bedrooms.

The second, 148-unit building will include the retail and food-distribution space. Its housing breakdown would include 47 percent one-bedrooms, 31 percent two-bedrooms, 14 percent studios and eight percent three-bedrooms.

The affordable units will be available to people making 40, 60, or 80 percent of the area median income, with rents ranging from $772 to $2,367 between the smallest and largest apartments.

Few fireworks followed the presentation, though some board members pressed developers to increase the number of family-sized apartments in their proposal — especially among the affordable units.

"It's majority studio and one-bedrooms, which we have way more than enough [of] here in Astoria," member Evie Hantzopolous said.

Ultimately, the committee passed a resolution to recommend approving the project — while asking the number of family-sized units to be increased. The full community board has until April 25 to make a formal recommendation.

Developers expect the public review for the rezoning to last much of 2022, hoping to win City Council approval in early 2023. Construction would begin near the middle of next year and last up to two years.

This rezoning seems slated to be far less contentious than other major projects entering the review process in the neighborhood. The massive Innovation QNS project near Kaufman Studios has gotten a skeptical reception from CB1 and a local lawmaker, while the major Hallets North rezoning will also go before the community board soon.

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