Donovan Richards: councilman, Queens BP candidate and now pitchman for LIC overdevelopment

QNS


City Councilman and lead candidate for Queens Borough President Donovan Richards announced his support of the Your LIC waterfront development.

The development, a project four private developers are looking to build in the 28-acre land along Anable Basin — made popular due to Amazon’s proposed HQ2 — has garnered much attention throughout what is almost a year of its public visioning sessions.

“As we battle massive inequality across Queens, the Long Island City Waterfront presents a key opportunity to create new jobs, affordable housing and much-needed community facilities,” Richards told QNS. “We need ambitious proposals that will bring significant private and public investment into communities that have long endured disparities based on their socio-economic status.”

Your LIC’s developers, MAG Partners, Plaxall, Simon Baron Development, and TF Cornerstone, were brought together by City Council Speaker Corey Johnson last year in order to create a comprehensive plan with community input well before the ULURP process.

So far, developers have revealed they plan to develop 10 to 12 million square feet of the 28-acre land with up to 15 buildings that range from 400 to 700 feet in height, or 37 to 64 stories. They’ve mentioned seven acres of public open space. The plan also calls for 50 percent of commercial space, 30 percent residential and 13 percent “community” space that would include three new public schools and space for arts and culture.

Developers say they’ve committed to 5,700 total apartments with 25 percent (or 1,400 units) being affordable, which they say will be consistent with the area’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing metrics. When asked for specific price range for the units, Your LIC Spokesperson Jovanna Rizzo said they did not have those specifics yet.

Then how are we sure these buildings end massive inequality, Donnie? And what about transit and infrastructure?

City restores incremental "affordable housing" plan following Amazon's termination of HQ2

 

6sqft

The city’s plan to bring a thousand residential units and a mix of industrial space to Long Island City is back on the table after Amazon last month announced it will not open a complex in the neighborhood. James Patchett, the president of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, said during the Crain’s New York Business breakfast on Thursday that the city will forge ahead with its original plan of bringing a mix of businesses and homes to the Queens neighborhood, Gothamist reported.


Three years ago, the city issued a request for proposals for development on two city-owned sites along 44th Drive in Long Island City at a waterfront area known as Anable Basin. In the summer of 2017, officials selected developer TF Cornerstone’s project, which involved constructing a $925 million mixed-use complex across 1.5 million square feet.

According to the Economic Development Corporation, the project was intended to provide 1,000 units of housing (with 25 percent made affordable), 100,000 square feet of light industrial space, 400,000 square feet of commercial space, a new 600-seat school, retail space, and an acre of open space along the waterfront. The plan would require zoning changes in order to move forward.

Plaxall to develop site alongside Amazon

From The Real Deal:

Plaxall isn’t completely handing over its large Long Island City project to Amazon.

The family-run plastics company, which last year developed a 15-acre plan that appears to have been the key to luring Amazon’s HQ2 to New York, will retain a site just to the south of the tech company’s planned campus where it can develop its own commercial building, according to a memorandum of understanding between the company and the state and city’s respective economic development arms.

Plaxall... will retain the southernmost block of the larger project: a group of properties that sit on the block between 46th Road and 46th Avenue. The six property lots, which cover nearly the entire block, would allow Plaxall to build a mixed-use building slightly larger than 800,000 square feet, or a residential building of nearly 566,000 square feet.

Under the residential plan, the new building would be subject to the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing requirements, and under either scenario, Plaxall would set aside 5 percent of the space for light industrial use.

Congress Member excited by big development project

From the Times Ledger:

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria) reviewed the draft scope of work proposed by Plaxall that within 15 years would bring a 65-story tower; 5,000 residential units spread out over eight buildings, with 25 percent set aside for affordable housing; manufacturing and office space; and an esplanade to make Anable Basin accessible to the public.

“Anable Basin is currently a gloomy industrial area with limited roads, limited access, sparse public transportation and very little retail,” Maloney said. “We have seen the success of Queens West and Hunters Point South in Long Island City and in Northern Brooklyn. And it is time for that trend to reach Anable Basin — an extraordinary area with magnificent views of Manhattan and the East River. This rezoning has the potential to create another great neighborhood, if it is done right.”

Huge project proposed for Anable Basin

From Curbed:

A longtime Long Island City property owner is seeking a waterfront rezoning that will allow it to bring a 5.8 million gross square foot mixed-use development to the area surrounding Anable Basin, just north of the Hunter’s Point South redevelopment.

Under the proposal by Plaxall Realty, 14.7 acres would be rezoned to accommodate 5,000 condos and rentals, 335,000 square feet of creative production and light manufacturing space, 3.1 acres of public waterfront esplanade, and up to 30,000 square feet of community space. It would also bring a 700-plus seat public school to the neighborhood, outside of the rezoning area.