Huge Astoria Cove Development Stirs To Life After Yearslong Delay

ASTORIA, QUEENS — A multi-building development that has stalled for years near Astoria Park is now showing signs of life, according to construction plans just filed with the city.

Plans for four new buildings were filed with the Department of Buildings last week, centered on the so-called Astoria Cove site: a multi-block area next to the Shore Towers Condominiums on the Halletts Point peninsula.

Consisting of a 26-story tower, two eight-story buildings and a seven-story building, they include a combined 469 apartments, along with 14,500 square feet of commercial space, according to the documents.

The new towers appear to match several of the buildings that had been included in the initial Astoria Cove plan, which was spearheaded by developers Alma Realty and approved by the city in 2014. Since then, however, the site has sat empty, amid reports that the project had become financially unworkable due to a city mandate requiring one-fourth of the units to be affordable.

The newly filed plans appear to be associated with a new developer: instead of Alma, the listed applicant is David Kronman of Cape Advisors, a development company that recently built the Astoria West apartment complex on Vernon Boulevard.

Alma still appears to own the site, however, with city records showing no sales since Alma first purchased it in 2014. Alma had put the Astoria Cove property up for sale in 2017, but took it off the market months later due to a lack of interest, according to POLITICO.

Alma did not immediately respond to questions Monday about whether it was involved in the new project, and Cape Advisors did not respond to a request for details about the development.

Community Board 1 district manager Florence Koulouris, who told POLITICO in 2019 that Astoria Cove was "in no man's land," reiterated to Patch on Monday that the board has not heard from any of the site's developers recently. Developers will not need to secure any new permissions before starting construction, since the city has already rezoned the site.

The four newly-filed buildings closely resemble the eastern half of the original project, which was supposed to include seven buildings in total.

While the architecture firm Studio V had been attached to the original Astoria Cove development, the latest plans list a different firm, Fogarty Finger, as the architect of record.

The 2014 approval of Astoria Cove came at the end of a lengthy process which began with City Council members harshly criticizing developers' initial plans for a lack of affordable units. After the city intervened, the developers agreed to set aside 27 percent of the planned 1,723 apartments for low- and middle-income households, an achievement that was touted by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The westernmost slice of the original development, which was to include a 29-story and 22-story tower, does not appear to be included in the latest plans. New waterfront parkland, a supermarket, and space for a 456-seat public school were also part of the first proposal.

The Astoria Cove site is currently industrial, home to a number of warehouses and parking lots.

It's among a slew of projects planned or underway in Western Astoria, joining the in-progress Halletts Point development by the Durst Company and the proposed Halletts North, a 1,400-unit project that is just beginning its public review process.

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