Astoria Parking Lot To Become Affordable Housing For Seniors

ASTORIA, QUEENS — A city-owned parking lot in Astoria is being transformed into affordable housing for seniors.

The plan calls for 135 apartments, about a third of which would go to formerly homeless seniors, rising on the site of a Department of Transportation parking lot at 31-07 31st St.

Apartments will be geared toward New Yorkers 62 or older who make $45,500 or less, in the case of a two-person household.

The building will include a backyard and rooftop terrace for recreation, a stand-alone community center offering educational programs and social services and retail space.

Mega Development LLC and the Astoria-based nonprofit HANAC were selected by the city to spearhead the development, which goes by the name Ikos Senior Living, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development announced Thursday.

“This administration has made meeting the needs of our city’s seniors a top priority in advancing our ambitious affordable housing plan,” HPD Commissioner Louise Carroll said. “This project promises to transform this city-owned site into a thriving, affordable community for aging New Yorkers and a hub of activity for the neighborhood."

The forthcoming Ikos development falls under an initiative by Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration to build or finance 30,000 units of affordable housing for seniors by 2026.

It will be financed through the Senior Affordable Rental Apartments Program, a low-interest loan program offered by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development's Division of Special Needs Housing.

“In 2018 I stood with our neighbors and senior services providers at the Broadway parking lot to say it's more important to house people than cars," City Council Member Costa Constantinides said. "Now, in 2021, we're living that virtue and transforming a parking lot into 135 units of deeply affordable senior housing.”