Jamaica Estates has been largely untouched by the wave of development sweeping through the rest of Jamaica, but new buildings are rising on a small swath at the neighborhood’s southern edge.
A tipster sent along these photos of a development rising at 177-16 Wexford Terrace, situated just north of Hillside Avenue between Edgerton Boulevard and Dalny Road. New building permits were approved a year ago, but construction has only reached the seventh story.
Plans call for an eight-story, 20-unit building on a lot across the street from the block-long Immaculate Conception Church. The project will be rentals, and most of the apartments will be one bedrooms.
The first floor will have 1,400 square feet of medical offices, followed by three units each through the seventh floor and two units on the eighth floor. Those 20 apartments will be spread across 17,709 square feet of residential space, yielding average units of 885 square feet. The development will also have three off-street parking spaces, but the zoning code doesn’t require any.
The developer is TCX Development, headquartered in Great Neck, and they’ve hired Great Neck-based architect Frank Petruso to handle the design. TCX acquired the 4,800-square-foot lot at 177-16 Wexford Terrace for $800,000 in 2013, and within a year, they had knocked down the property’s previous occupant, a little Tudor Revival home.
TCX is also working on a 68-unit rental building a few doors down at 177-30 Wexford Terrace. When we revealed that project, TCX’s Joshua Asherian told us that rents there would start at $1,550 for studios and go as high as $2,600 for penthouses. The Department of Buildings hasn’t approved permits for that project yet.
Construction schematic for 177-16 Wexford Terrace, photo by tipster
These developments benefit from the Jamaica Plan rezoning, which completely excluded most of Jamaica Estates, Jamaica’s wealthiest neighborhood. But the city upped the zoning along a few blocks of Wexford Terrace, increasing the allowed density from a FAR of 2.43 to 4 and limiting new buildings to heights of 80 feet. Given the juicy zoning and the attractive neighborhood, it’s no surprise that the Tudor-style home next door at no. 177-18 recently hit the market, asking $1,780,000, or roughly $143 per buildable square foot.
However, the old, suburban-style zoning remains across the street and stretches for several blocks to the north. It only allows three-story apartment buildings or small detached homes. The Jamaica Plan also downzoned several blocks south of Hillside Avenue, further preventing growth in one of Queens’ most affordable neighborhoods.
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