New renderings have been revealed for a 3,000-unit masterplan on the former site of the Flushing Airport in College Point, Queens. Designed by S9Architecture and developed by Cirrus Workforce Housing and LCOR Incorporated, the 80-acre wetland site give rise to multiple buildings spread over 20 acres, with the remaining space devoted to park land that incorporates the existing ecosystem. The site is generally bounded by 20th Avenue to the north, Linden Place to the southwest, and a pair of commercial facilities to the southeast along the Whitestone Expressway.
Mayor Eric Adams announced the development on Monday as part of his City of Yes plan, as well as the mayor’s Executive Order 43, which requires a review of unused land that can be repurposed for new housing developments. Notable attendees at the press event included Queens City Councilmember Vickie Paladino and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.
The above and below renderings show a row of large residential buildings clad in a mix of light- and dark-colored paneling and floor-to-ceiling windows. Each features setbacks topped with lush landscaping as well as a rooftop solar array and greenery. The images also depict walking paths and lawns interspersed throughout the revitalized wetlands.
Rendering courtesy of S9 Architecture.
Flushing Airport operated from 1929 to 1984, then was reverted back to wetlands. The Bloomberg administration proposed two plans to repurpose the land as new parks or a 585,000-square-foot wholesale distribution, but neither was successful due to community concerns over environmental impact and increased traffic in the area.
In November 2024, Cirrus Workforce Housing and LCOR Incorporated were selected as the developers via an RFP process. According to Mayor Adams’ office, the project is expected to generate $3.2 billion in economic activity over the next 30 years and create 1,300 temporary construction jobs, as well as 530 permanent jobs.
Funding will be provided through a private-public partnership between Cirrus and the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, which represents over 100,000 trade workers at 15 unions. As part of funding for the housing development, 11 unions will contribute pension funds toward the creation of workforce housing in the development plan.
The project is planned to be built through a partnership between the NYC Building Trades and Adams, Cirrus, and LCOR, using 100 percent union labor and incorporating workforce housing. Members of Building Trades will construct the development using union pension fund investments.
Construction is expected to begin in 2028 pending city approval for rezoning changes and following the completion of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure and an environmental assessment of the existing wetlands.
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There’s no doubt that this development will bring more car traffic to the neighborhood as College Point is a bit of a transit desert however I don’t think that’s a reason to not build much needed housing in this area. If anything, I think it makes the case for more BRT to be developed in this part of Queens.
I don’t think being a teacher desert is a bad thing, because the MTA only wants to build transit where there is already existing density.
*transit
not teacher
How much you wanna bet the greenery won’t be included when all’s said and done…
This is a money grab by and for the developers. Density and an uptick in crime will destroy this community.
density is scawwwwy : ( new housing ruins communities >:( – do you need your diaper changed?
That photo rendering makes the development look like “Life After People.” And it’s conveniently left out what percent is dedicated for (un)affordable housing (code word akin to Section 8 lowlifes or NYCHA-type of living conditions). I would live there if they have it to me!
Stop drinking so much.
Good news for the businesses across 20th Avenue. That huge surface lot should also be developed with housing above.
This needs to be served by an extension of the 7 train.
The way to help poor people is to make them poorer and make their lives worse. Only by maximizing their suffering will they realize that being poor was a bad idea. Providing housing for the poor and immoral is the problem, not the solution. (Is irony dead?)
something is wrong with you
This site was a former tidal swamp as was Flushing Meadows. It still retains some of this character with the former runways of Flushing Airport, once the busiest in the city in the early days of aviation, having subsided below water level. In it last days, the Goodyear Blimp was kept there for its proximity to sports venues. The site was advertised as the College Point Industrial Park 50 years ago, but nothing was built for a long time except for the Western Electric factory, not a postal facility on 20th Ave. Years ago, a spur of the LIRR Port Washington Branch went to College Point and then over to Whitestone.
The development will likely improve the mosquito situation locally.
Hi please let me know more info on your studio apt Thank You
Irony IS dead!
Anyone else surprised that there was this large of an undeveloped lot so close to Flushing that was vacant for over forty years?
The site will require a good deal of landfill. This was done on the eastern side of the Whitestone Expressway where the 41 Mitchell-Linden co-op buildings were erected in the 1950s. College Point was originally almost an island and connected to “mainland” by 14th Ave. A causeway, now College Point Blvd., was built as a second connection. One clever man built a small dam and ran a mill powered by the tidal flow in and out of the swamp near there. A local attraction was the “Indian Physic Spring” now under the expressway around 21st Ave. This had a high iron content thought heathful.
This is great for those that want to live in NYC high density areas.
With all the negativity reflected in these comments, it’s a wonder we have any housing at all.