By Devin Gannon, Tue, July 24, 2018 Rendering via Vass Stevens
A new food hall is coming to the Astoria–Long Island City border in Queens, the Commercial Observer reported on Tuesday. Developer Vass Stevens Group is in the process of converting a former print shop, dollar store and restaurant supply store at 34-39 31st Street into a retail space with eight 2,000-square-foot storefronts. The interiors of the single-story building have been demolished and renovations, which will add new glass storefronts and doors, are set to begin soon.
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By Hannah Frishberg, Mon, June 25, 2018 Photo by Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit via Flickr
On the heels of the 2 and 3 resuming weekend service between Brooklyn and Manhattan, the MTA has more good news: The 30th and 36th Avenue stations in Astoria will be reopening on Monday, July 2 after being shuttered for repairs the past eight months. But with this also comes some bad news–the closure of the Broadway and 39th Avenue stations on the same N, W line, which are projected to remain shuttered for seven months.
July 2 will be quite a day for Astoria straphangers
By Cait Etherington, Tue, May 1, 2018 While immigration, urban planning, and the forces of gentrification are certainly key factors in how NYC’s neighborhoods have been shaped, New Yorkers’ patterns of work, their unions, and in some instances, even their employers have also played a role in the development of several of the city’s established neighborhoods. To mark May Day, 6sqft decided to investigate two of the city neighborhoods that were quite literally made for workers—the Van Cortlandt Village area of the Bronx and the Steinway neighborhood in Astoria, Queens.
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By Devin Gannon, Tue, April 3, 2018 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.”
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By Dana Schulz, Wed, March 7, 2018 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
By Devin Gannon, Tue, February 20, 2018 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.
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By Devin Gannon, Fri, February 16, 2018 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
By Devin Gannon, Mon, October 2, 2017 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.”
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By Devin Gannon, Wed, September 20, 2017 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.
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By Devin Gannon, Tue, August 29, 2017 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.
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