Developers Unveil $2B Plan For Astoria 'Creative District'

ASTORIA, QUEENS — A team of developers unveiled a $2 billion plan Wednesday to transform a largely industrial swath of Astoria into an arts and culture hub.

The development, dubbed Innovation QNS, includes 250,000 square feet of office space dedicated to creative industries and startups, 200,000 square feet of retail space, 2,700 apartments, a state-of-the-art cinema, a 600-seat school, two acres of open space and a new grocery store — all centered around the intersection of Steinway Street and 35th Avenue.

Roughly 700 of the apartments would be affordable. Those units would largely be priced at 60 percent of the area's median income, according to Tom Corsillo, a spokesperson for the developers.

A portion of the office space would be available at below-market rents to startups, artists and nonprofits.

Real estate developer Larry Silverstein, whose firm already owns or leases 13 parcels in that section of Astoria, and BedRock Real Estate Partners are spearheading the project in partnership with Kaufman Astoria Studios.

Silverstein and architect Eran Chen, whose firm, ODA, designed the master plan, said the project would "reactivate" a "largely dormant" portion of Astoria.

“This is a time when people desperately need jobs, and this project will serve as an enormously important stimulus for Astoria and New York City," Silverstein said in a statement.

The public review process will kick off next year. Construction would start in 2023, pending approval by the City Council and the Department of City Planning to rezone the parcels of land, which are slated for manufacturing.

The development team presented the plans Wednesday night to the land use and zoning committee for Queens Community Board 1, which would issue an advisory decision on the proposal under the land use review process, or ULURP.