In an effort to spark development along the Queens waterfront, New York City is looking for a developers to build up to 1.2 million square feet of offices, manufacturing space and apartments in Long Island City.
On Thursday morning, the de Blasio administration’s economic development arm will put out to bid two city-owned sites across the inlet from Gantry Plaza State Park.
It’s the first time the city has sought to develop commercial space on the Long Island City waterfront since 2001.
“Our goal is to continue investing in Long Island City as a true live-work-play community, one where a parent living in an affordable apartment can walk their child to school and then continue on to work at a good-paying job,” said Maria Torres-Springer, the president of the Economic Development Corporation, in a statement. “At the same time, we’re responding to the tremendous demand we’re seeing for new and flexible commercial space in neighborhoods outside of Manhattan.”
The goal is to deliver at least 300,000 square feet of office or light manufacturing space, up to 1,000 apartments, many of them affordable, a school and a small park.
Just up the river from Hunters Point South, the sites, as the request for proposal notes, are “just a stone’s throw from the new Cornell Tech campus rising at Roosevelt Island.”
They are also proximate to midtown Manhattan and Long Island City’s fledgling office sector.
Right now, they are occupied by a restaurant whose lease expires in 2017 and may or may not be included in the developer’s plans, what the request for proposals describes as a “parking lot abutting lands underwater and a dilapidated over-water platform” and a one-story Department of Transportation building that might have to be relocated as part of any project.
The land would also likely have to be rezoned for uses other than manufacturing.
Long Island City has seen some growth in its office sector in recent months, thanks in part to WeWork opening an office there and Uber stationing its New York headquarters in the neighborhood, according to a recent market report.
Commercial rents have also been rising, though they’re still cheap relative to Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn.
“This catalytic waterfront development will build on the residential growth we’ve seen in recent years, bringing much needed office space and amenities to the community,” Torres-Springer said.
