Filings for new construction in Jamaica, Queens, have dropped off since the 421-a tax exemption expired in January. But one optimistic developer has taken the plunge and filed plans for a mixed-use building at 177-14 Wexford Terrace, on the southern edge of Jamaica Estates.
The nine-story development would rise next to TCX Development’s residential project at 177-16 Wexford Terrace, which we checked on in the fall. Two doors down, TCX is also working on an eight-story, 68-unit building at 177-30 Wexford Terrace. The block, between Dalny Road and Edgerton Boulevard, is generously zoned and sits within Jamaica Estates, the wealthier neighborhood just north of Jamaica.
No. 177-14 will have a 1,500-square-foot medical facility on the first floor, topped by three to five apartments per floor. There will be 37 apartments spread across 26,013 square feet of residential space, creating average units measuring 700 square feet.
In terms of amenities, eighth floor residents will have a private roof deck, and an 860-square-foot terrace on the eighth floor will be open to everyone. The building will also include a 19-car garage, which is the minimum required to satisfy city zoning requirements.
Much like TCX’s two projects, Defonseca Architects will be responsible for the design. The developer is listed as Michael Weitzman of DJL Properties. Weitzman runs a local brokerage based in Fresh Meadows, a neighborhood filled with one- and two-family homes just north of Jamaica Estates.
Most of Jamaica Estates remained untouched when the city rezoned Jamaica in 2007. But the city bumped up the zoning along a few blocks of Wexford Terrace, and some of the large single-family homes have since sold to developers. The neighborhood remains an affluent, upper middle class enclave, where you can still snag a freestanding, Tudor-style home for less than a million bucks. The area has also been in the headlines recently because Donald Trump grew up there. As the Times points out, beautiful, tree-lined blocks are now home to a range of ethnicities, unlike the exclusively white neighborhood of Trump’s childhood.
DJL Properties picked up this site for $1,425,000, or $51 a buildable square foot, in October 2013. The large, single-family home that occupies the property has not yet been demolished, but demolition plans were filed with the Department of Buildings in November.
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Oh…beautiful palace for high class, I want to visit inside and touch a golden curtain.
Nah – doesn’t fit. You can’t shove buildings everywhere.