Plan for 2,000+ homes at vacant Creedmoor campus in Queens approved
Creedmoor campus. Photo by Jim.henderson via WikiCommons
A plan to bring more than 2,000 new homes to the underutilized Creedmoor Psychiatric Center campus in eastern Queens won approval this week. Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday announced that the Public Authorities Control Board approved the general project plan for the Creedmoor Mixed-Use Project, clearing the way to turn nearly 50 acres of vacant state land into a mixed-use community with housing, open space, retail, childcare, and senior services. The project includes a total of 2,022 units, with more than 950 affordable rentals and over 1,000 affordable and market-rate homes for ownership.
Creedmoor has been a mental health center since 1912, with its population peaking at 7,000 patients in 1959. However, following the deinstitutionalization of mental health services half a century ago, much of the campus sits vacant, with its imposing inpatient tower that once held thousands now serving only a few hundred.
Located at 79-25 Winchester Boulevard in Bellerose, the project will replace shuttered and dilapidated facilities across 46.5 acres of the campus with more than 10 acres of open space and new community facilities designed to fit into the surrounding neighborhood.
The project could be the area’s single largest investment in housing since the 1950s and the largest expansion of homeownership opportunities in nearly half a century, as 6sqft previously reported. Many of the affordable homes will be reserved for veterans and will include supportive apartments for individuals living with or recovering from mental illnesses, as well as housing for seniors.
“Creedmoor Psychiatric Center’s campus has greatly evolved from when it first opened as the Farm Colony of Brooklyn State Hospital more than a century ago,” Dr. Ann Sullivan, commissioner of the state’s Office of Mental Health, said.
“This redevelopment project will breathe new life and vitality into an area of the campus that has been vacant for decades, transforming this area into homes for thousands of New Yorkers, including many new units of supportive housing for people living with and recovering from mental illness.”
The plan includes 144,000 square feet of community facilities: a 120,000 square foot public school, 16,000 square feet for senior centers, and an 8,000 square foot childcare center. Another 67,000 square feet of neighborhood retail will support local businesses and serve residents’ daily needs.
Creedmoor’s transformation is supported by Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $500 million Redevelopment of Underutilized Sites for Housing (NY-RUSH) initiative, created in the fiscal year 2025 budget to identify and convert state-owned properties into housing. It builds on a July 2023 executive order directing state agencies to activate underused state sites for housing development.
“Across New York, we’re tackling the housing crisis with creative solutions that make the most of every opportunity — including underutilized State property like the Creedmoor campus,” Hochul said.
“This project will deliver more than 2,000 homes, including a mix of affordable rental and homeownership opportunities for families, along with dedicated affordable rental housing for seniors and veterans, while adding much-needed open space, childcare, and community facilities.”
The general project plan follows years of discussions among Empire State Development (ESD), local elected officials, civic groups, Queens Community Board 13, the Creedmoor Community Advisory Committee (CCAC), and eastern Queens residents.
It builds on the 2023 Creedmoor Community Master Plan, which identified local priorities and established a framework for redevelopment through a broad public outreach process that included listening sessions, open houses, and planning workshops. Moving forward, community outreach will continue through the CCAC.
In August, following pushback from the local community board over the development’s density, the project’s total number of homes was reduced by 851, including 588 planned homeownership units and 263 rental units, according to the Queens Eagle.
The revised plan also includes a 27 percent reduction in overall unit square footage, a 15 percent cut in the number of housing units set aside for individuals with mental illnesses, and the removal of five planned eight-story buildings from the site.
Additionally, state officials pledged to accelerate the timeline for the senior housing units and reduce the footprint of the planned school, freeing up space for a playground, faculty parking, and bus loading zones.
Hochul first unveiled the project and master plan in December 2023, which Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, ESD, and the Metropolitan Urban Design Workshop developed over six months.
Other underused state-owned facilities identified by New York for redevelopment include Chelsea’s Bayview Correctional Facility and Harlem’s Lincoln Correctional Facility.
Last year, Hochul unveiled Liberty Landing, a 124-unit affordable development designed by COOKFOX that will adaptively reuse the existing Bayview Correctional Facility.
A new condo project dubbed The Seneca at 31 West 110th Street will replace the Harlem jail. All 110 units at the building will be homeownership units and restricted to households earning up to 100 percent of the AMI. The project involves demolishing the vacant facility to construct the 22-story tower.
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