Monday, September 30, 2019

Office of City Planning doles rezone permit to auto dealership for mixed use residential building














Cityland

 On September 25, 2019, City Planning unanimously approved an application to rezone the property located at 44-01 Northern Boulevard in Long Island City, Queens. The applicant, 44-01 Northern Boulevard, LLC (also known as Major World), seeks to change the zoning from a manufacturing district to allow for a ten-story mixed-use residential development. The site is currently an Auto World sales site, showroom and garage.


The application proposes approximately 335 residential units with approximately 100 units dedicated to permanently affordable housing, 36,000 square feet of ground floor retail and approximately 156 parking spaces (36 commercial spaces and 120 residential accessory parking spaces). Thirty percent of the units will be at 80 percent area median income. The applicant seeks to continue operating his automobile dealership on the first floor but would discontinue running a garage.

The building features two portions of varying heights situated directly north of Northern Boulevard, south of 34th Avenue, east of 44th Street and west of 45th Street. The ten-story portion of the building runs along Northern Boulevard and extends down parts of 44th street and 45th Street. The four-story portion will continue along 44th Street.

Directly north of the lot, continuing down 44th and 45th street and along 34th Ave, there are several five and six-story elevator buildings.  Across Northern Boulevard to the south are multiple car dealerships, including another Major World and a City Buick GMC. Directly east, on the corner of 45th Street and Northern Boulevard, is a 2-story, 45,448 square foot commercial building. Located west and across 44th Street is the Hyundai of Long Island car dealership and several attached and semi-detached multifamily buildings.

1 comment:

TommyR said...

Read the sole comment on the linked-to site, about how likely more c-8 zoned lots around the borough will be requesting the same change. It makes perfect sense secondarily as less people drive and primarily because the lot owners can make much more putting up apartment buildings on main thoroughfares like Queens boulevard and Northern. Those car lots benefit the surrounding community a lot less than new building will. Of course there's the probability of gentrification and displacement, but that's not peculiar to these kinds of rezonings.