47-15 34th Ave. as seen today, where a developer plans on building a 14-story, 201 unit building at the site. (CPC)
Dec. 27, 2018 By Meghan Sackman
A 14-story development with 201 apartments could soon be taking over a busy Northern Boulevard corner in Long Island City currently home to a string of businesses.
The development, proposed by Ashley Young LLC, is planned for 47-15 34th Ave., a commercial block at the corner of 48th Street and Northern Boulevard that sees businesses like Popeyes, Kumon and more.
47-15 34th Ave., the development site, outlined in red. (Google Maps)
The proposed building would span roughly 183,500 square feet, with 30 percent of the units, or 61 apartments, to be set aside for affordable housing.
The affordable units would be available to families earning 80 percent of the Area Median Income. A family of three, for instance, would need an income of $75,120 to qualify.
The development would also allow for commercial spaces to take up the ground floor, which would stretch from 34th Avenue and along 47th and 48th Streets.
An enclosed parking garage for 77 cars, to be accessed from 48th Street, would also form part of the project.
A rendering of 47-15 34th Ave., a proposed 14-story building off Northern Boulevard in Long Island City. (CPC)
The plans require that the site be rezoned to allow for a taller building with a dense residential component. Without the rezoning approval, which requires a lengthy public review process, the developer would be limited to a project similar to the one and two-story commercial buildings at the site today.
The rezoning approval would also allow the planned building to reach a maximum height of 145 feet, but the development would taper off in height to 45 feet toward the back of the site, which would fit in with the low rise residential homes there.
The proposed rezoning area also extends to parts of the adjacent development block between 46th and 47th Streets, a decision that the the City Planning Commission, the agency that oversees rezoning applications, said was integral to the project moving forward in the review process.
The CPC said during its November review session, when the project was presented, that adding sections of the neighboring block to the application, while not forming part of the development site, constitutes good planning.
The block next door, which looks similar to the development site, would effectively have an isolated, out-of-place zoning if left out of application, the CPC said.
“Without the inclusion of the additional parcels in the rezoning area, the department would not be recommending creating a donut-hole situation in our land use plan,” said Marisa Lago, CPC chair, at the hearing.
The public review process for the upzoning, which kicked off after the application was certified by the CPC during the November hearing, now heads to Community Board 1 in January before eventually reaching the Borough President and the City Council for review in subsequent months.
Ashley Young LLC purchased the property in 2008 for $6.6 million, and its rezoning application comes as another developer is eyeing a rezoning to a Northern Boulevard property just four blocks away.
The proposed 47-15 34th Ave. development as seen from 47th Street. (Hill West Architects via CPC)
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10 Comments
Sushi X is one of the few excellent sushi spots in town. NYC keeps giving more and more reasons for everyone to leave. This city is losing its’ character every day, I can’t wait to move out of here before all you see are condo’s and strip malls. YUCK!!!
Next question looming….what’s happening at the intersection of Northern and 39th Streets? Speedway is gone, Western Beef gone and the Mexican Restaurant was shut down the DOH. Something tells me this has to do with the Railyards project…….
Does this mean the end of M.I.C. Tires? They were my go-to for tires. I would miss them if they were swallowed up by this development.
Why do people move here if they think the neighborhood needs to be completely remade? You exhibit such scorn for those of us who have lived here for decades before the city cast a greedy eye our way. We lived here because we like low-rise, quiet places. Greed used to be sequestered in Manhattan. It’s metastasis to Queens is a tragedy for the millions who loved it as it existed before. Money can be very, very ugly, and it sure is as it is on display in Queens today. Cruelty is its constant companion.
Hopefully the developer avoids the temptation to use PTACs, though the rendering suggests they kept it a little classier.
NOOO Not Sushi X 🙁
Quick, Van Bramer and Gianaris get out there and protest this development too. Both of you are anti progressive and deliberately ill informing the select residents you hope will keep you both in office. With all the proposed developments for western Queens you both are actually denying people great opportunities of thousands of well-paying jobs in such developments. One would almost think that it’s a collective thought by both of you to keep the people that you pretend to care so much about ignorant and poor. A “divide & conquer” mentality that is indicative of self-serving activists. Let me ask you both, Have either one of you bothered to review properties that was purchased in western queens, pre the Amazon announcement?
JVB anti-progressive? He’s been licking Occasional-Cortex’s boots since day one.
& how come there is not the same uproar when Google just announced a 1 Billon investment in the Hudson Yards? or Crystal City in VA and on & on. For those resident of Queens that are listening to Van Bramer & Gianaris please don’t be fooled by their rhetoric. They no more care about you and your quality of life or by being dispersed by Amazon. They just want to keep you from getting a great opportunity with all the prosperity for western Queens
Nice looking much improvement!