Innovation QNS Rezoning Begins Review, Against Councilmember's Wishes

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Astoria's enormous Innovation QNS development has officially kicked off its public review, developers announced Monday, apparently spurning a request from a local lawmaker to delay the project's certification until a number of community concerns were addressed.

The five-block, $2 billion project that would create a dozen buildings and 2,800 apartments in an industrial stretch of eastern Astoria has now begun the monthslong review process known as ULURP, under which it will face hearings at multiple levels of government before a final vote by the City Council.

Last week, however, Councilmember Julie Won called on the developers to delay certification, saying in a Queens Post op-ed that the proposal had still not received enough input from neighbors. She pointed to translation issues at last week's multilingual town hall convened by developers, claims that protesters had not been allowed inside the venue, and continued concerns about the project's affordability.

But the developers — a joint team of Silverstein Properties, Kaufman Astoria Studios and BedRock Real Estate Partners — say they have done plenty of outreach. Besides the town hall, developers have also shared key findings from their environmental impact statement — released early in response to requests from Community Board 1 — and have promised to conduct a racial impact study in response to Won's request.

"After four years of speaking with, listening to, and refining the plan based on conversations with our neighbors, we’re excited that Innovation QNS is as reflective and inclusive of the community as any economic development initiative in recent memory," said Tracy Capune, Vice President of Kaufman Astoria Studios, in a statement.

"We look forward to continuing to work with our neighbors and elected officials toward a plan that best meets the needs of Astoria and New York City."

While developers have already appeared before the community board and organized the April 20 meeting at Museum of the Moving Image, all of that was just a prelude to the main event: the ULURP process.

Now, in the coming weeks, Innovation QNS will face a formal hearing at the community board, which will then issue a recommendation for whether the rezoning should be approved or disapproved by the city. The Queens Borough President will issue his own recommendation, followed by a binding vote by the City Planning Commission and a showdown at the City Council this fall.

There, its fate is uncertain: the Council often defers to local members on land-use issues, meaning that Won could likely kill the project if she decides to oppose it. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the project's certification.

Developers have said Innovation QNS would be a boon to the neighborhood and the city as a whole, creating badly-needed housing — including more than 700 affordable units — as well as 1,700 permanent jobs, new green space, and an estimated $50 million in annual spending at neighborhood businesses.

But some residents have come out strongly against it, expressing worry over the buildings' sizes and predicting that they will contribute to raised rents around Astoria.

"If this goes up, the ripple effect will make it so that I can no longer afford to live in the community," one longtime resident, Carolina Korth, said last week.

Related coverage:

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