Three of the city’s top officials in transportation, housing, and economic development laid out the details of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s controversial plan to build a streetcar line along the waterfront from Sunset Park, Brooklyn to Astoria, Queens during a meeting with reporters on Friday.
The Durst Organization has just stopped construction on its sprawling megaproject on Hallets Point in Astoria, saying the taxes are “crushing” without the 421-a tax exemption. But developers are still rushing to build along the waterfront in the western Queens neighborhood. Developer Wayne Fried has filed applications for a seven-story, mixed-use building at 30-07 Vernon Boulevard, right next to Hallets Point and the East River.
A six-story residential building has topped out at 11-07 Welling Court in western Astoria, in the middle of one of New York City’s most important street art and graffiti destinations.
The residential building at 31-43 Vernon Boulevard, on the East River waterfront in Queens, has risen to its second level. The project, known as Vernon Tower, is designed by PACS Architecture and developed by Michael Heletz of Vernon Tower LLC. The grey and white, panel-clad building will rise directly from the sidewalk to the pinnacle, with two-story setbacks at the corners. 1,409 square feet of retail will activate the ground level facing Vernon Boulevard.
In May of 2015, YIMBY revealed renderings of the first building to be constructed at Hallets Point, the seven-building, 2,404-unit mega-development planned in western Astoria. Later that summer, we reported on the building’s applications, which call for a 22-story, 224-unit residential building with a 25,350 square-foot supermarket at 26-01 1st Street. Now, the Durst Organization is planning, on Thursday, to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the building, according to DNAinfo. The Dattner Architects-designed structure will encompass 520,913 square feet in total, 368,745 square feet of which will be residential space. Completion of 26-01 1st Street is expected in 2017.
