As the de Blasio administration pushes forward with its plan to build 80,000 units of affordable housing, more filings have surfaced for city-owned vacant lots, like this one at 54-15 101st in Corona, not far from Flushing Meadows Park. New building applications have been filed to erect an eight-story senior housing development there, between Lewis and Martense Avenues.
It would have 68 units divided across 46,800 square feet of residential space, yielding average apartments of 688 square feet. The first floor would have a 5,150-square-foot senior center, and each of the remaining stories would have eight to 10 units each. There would also be recreation space on the first and fifth floors, which includes a shared terrace connected to the fifth floor lounge.
The project doesn’t include any parking, because it evidently expects to benefit from the new zoning rules that just entered public review. New affordable and senior housing within a mile of the subway won’t have to include the parking typically required by the zoning code. But it’s still a bit surprising that the city would choose to eliminate parking here, three quarters of a mile from the nearest subway stop.
The building is also taller and denser than the site’s zoning allows. That means the city (or the non-profit developer behind the project) will have to get a variance for the size.
Think Architecture and Design are the architects of record.
The 12,000-square-foot property has been turned into a community garden, which will no doubt be razed before construction starts.
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