Rendering via Target

Retail giant Target announced on Tuesday that it will bring three new Target stores to New York City, further expanding its footprint in the Big Apple. The new stores, planned for the Upper East Side, Astoria and Staten Island, will be “small format,” tailored to the needs of shoppers in urban areas (h/t NBC). In a statement, Mark Schindele, a senior vice president of Target’s properties, said: “All three of these new stores will offer the best of Target in that borough, yet curate the assortment to meet the needs and preferences of the nearby community.”

More details here

Less than a month after we got a first look at 10 Halletts Point, the first of seven buildings that will open at the Durst Organization’s $1.5 billion Astoria mega-development, the Dattner Architects-designed tower is making headlines on multiple fronts today. Not only did a teaser site go live for the 405-unit rental tower, with even more new renderings, but the affordable housing lottery launched for the project’s 81 below-market-rate apartments. These range from $947/month studios to $1,414/month three-bedrooms, all of which are reserved for households earning 60 percent of the area median income.

See the renderings and find out if you qualify for the affordable units

N train at 30th Ave Station via Wikimedia

Thousands of straphangers on the Upper West Side and Astoria will have to rethink their daily commutes come spring, as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans on closing some stations for up to six months for repairs and upgrades. The station makeovers fall under the MTA’s Enhanced Station Initiative, a plan to improve the reliability and customer experience inside the subway system. Planned enhancements include installing digital countdown clocks at subway entrances, glass barriers, LED lighting and adorning station walls with artwork.

Find out more

The first of the Durst Organization’s seven-building, $1.5 billion development on the Astoria waterfront got new renderings this week, months ahead of its scheduled opening. As Curbed NY learned, the developer said leasing will launch for the two-tower 10 Halletts Points this summer. The first building to open on the Halletts Point campus, the tower will feature 405 apartments, of which up to 25 percent will be affordable.

More details here

Rendering of Vernon Tower, via PACS Architecture and Excel Development

On Monday, the lottery opens for 21 affordable units in a new luxury residential building located on the border of the trendy Queens neighborhoods of Astoria and Long Island City. The mixed-use rental at 11-06 31st Drive, called the Vernon Tower despite being just eight-stories, sits directly across from Socrates Sculpture Park and just a few blocks from the Noguchi Museum and waterfront promenade. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 60 percent of the area median income can apply for the units ranging from $867/month studios to $1,123/month two-bedrooms.

Find out if you qualify

Photo via Wikimedia

While most of New York City’s neighborhoods get their nicknames from real estate agents attempting to make an area more marketable (ie: Nolita and DoBro), an area in Queens may soon get a new moniker to boost its local economy instead. As DNAinfo reported, Natassa Contini, the owner of the cafe and pet supply shop Chateau Le Woof, has started using “Westoria” to refer to the area west of 21st Street between Astoria Park and Broadway. Currently, the northern Queens nabe is better known as “Old Astoria” or “Old Astoria Village.”

Find out more

Rendering of Halletts Point’s second set of buildings pulled from construction site, courtesy of The Durst Organization

Construction of the Durst Organization’s first development outside of Manhattan, Halletts Point, a $1.5 billion waterfront development in Astoria, is moving full speed ahead. As CityRealty learned, new renderings hanging outside of the construction site reveal two blocky towers covered in glass, with rows of balconies at their corners. Earlier this month, construction topped out on the project’s first two towers at 26-01 1st Street, designed by Dattner Architects. Now, work has officially begun on the second pair of buildings at 26-02 1st Street and 26-40 1st Street.

Find out more

The Astoria route of the NYC Ferry officially launched today, the fourth route introduced by the city this year. The service stops in Astoria, Roosevelt Island, Long Island City, East 34th Street and Wall Street, the complete trip totaling 47 minutes. While the ferries have been popular with commuters, two extra boats were added and fleets under construction were redesigned to be larger in June, concerns about recreational boaters coexisting without colliding into ferries have grown. As the New York Times reported, one free kayaking class won’t run their program until deciding it’s safe enough to do so.

Find out more

Known as Astoria Cove, this newly constructed 28-unit rental at 26-27 2nd Street is just a block away from the under-construction Halletts Point mega-development. The seven-building project will bring 2,400 housing units to the Astoria neighborhood, as well as a stop for the East River Ferry, a supermarket, school, and waterfront park. Six households earning 60 percent of the median income have a chance to live near all the upcoming action through the city’s affordable housing lottery that’s offering $889/month one-bedrooms and $1,001/month two-bedrooms.

Find out if you qualify

Scoring a rent-stabilized apartment is a big win in New York City, as these regulated pads usually offer rent at below-market rates and provide tenants more protections against landlords. While more than 925,000 rent-stabilized apartments still exist in the city, these units turn over at a faster rate in certain neighborhoods than others, and their availability continues to dwindle (h/t WYNC). According to a new report by the city’s Independent Budget Office (IBO), the neighborhoods of Astoria, Morningside Heights and Bay Ridge all have high concentrations of rent-regulated housing built prior to 1974 and therefore, higher rates of turnover compared to other parts of the city.

Find out more