Renderings have been revealed for The Orion, a proposed three-building residential complex at 54-42 2nd Street on the Hunters Point South waterfront of Long Island City, Queens. Designed by Marvel and developed in a partnership between Slate Property Group, The Hudson Companies, and Volunteers of America, the project will yield 980 rental units, with two-thirds dedicated to affordable housing for extremely low- to moderate-income households. The $700 project will also include a community facility operated by Commonpoint Queens, an indoor community pool, and nearly 6,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial retail space.
The 69,500-square-foot property is also known as Parcel E and occupies a full city block bounded by 55th Avenue to the north, 56th Avenue to the south, 2nd Street to the east, and Center Boulevard to the west.
The above aerial rendering looks west at the complex with The Orion at the center. The three structures will be connected at their lower levels. The shortest component at the southeast corner will be clad in a red brick façade and will be topped with multiple rooftop terraces and amenity spaces. The taller buildings at the northeast and southwest corners will have contrasting gray façades surrounding grids of large windows, and will culminate in mechanical bulkheads.
The following rendering is oriented in the same direction from a lower perspective.
54-42 2nd Street. Rendering courtesy of HPD.
Of the 980 units, 658 will be permanently affordable homes for households earning 20 to 120 percent of the area median income (AMI). In addition, 149 supportive apartments will be reserved for formerly homeless individuals.
The nearly 8,900-square-foot community facility operated by Commonpoint will feature an affordable and accessible childcare center with an outdoor playground serving children in infancy to pre-kindergarten. There will also be a workforce development center offering vocational training programs that can double as a flexible community space for local groups.
Each building will also have laundry facilities, fitness centers, community rooms, bike storage, and rooftop terraces. Residents of all three buildings will have access to communal ground-floor amenities, including the indoor pool, kids’ playrooms, and the interior courtyard and playground. The pool will also be accessible to the community through Commonpoint programming.
Parcel E’s Request For Proposals (RFP) was launched in mid-June 2025 and concluded the following September. The Orion is the latest development in the 30-acre Hunters Point South master plan, and is part of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s $22 billion “Block by Block” initiative, which aims to build 200,000 new affordable homes, while preserving another 200,000 over the next ten years. This includes nearly $5 billion in capital funding commitment to finance about 8,000 subsidized affordable units over the 2027 and 2028 fiscal years.
The nearest subway is the 7 train at the Vernon Boulevard–Jackson Avenue station to the east. The Hunters Point South ferry terminal is also located a few blocks to the north along Center Boulevard.
A construction timeline for The Orion has yet to be announced. Developers still need to secure financing and engage with the HPD and community stakeholders before work can get underway.
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“In addition, 149 supportive apartments will be reserved for formerly homeless individuals.”
What an absolute nightmare. Just go ahead and force us to live amongst these people.