A low-slung stretch near the Queensboro Bridge could trade its storefronts and walk-up apartments for a 354-unit tower, if the Moinian Group gets the green light. The developer has filed plans for a high-density apartment building on a Long Island City parcel that is now a mix of retail and existing housing, and is asking the city to sign off on a zoning change to make it happen. The proposal sits squarely inside the area reshaped by the city’s OneLIC neighborhood planning push, so it will have to run the full public-review gauntlet before any shovels hit the ground.
According to the New York Business Journal, the application calls for a 354-unit residential tower and seeks a rezoning from heavy commercial to high-density mixed-use to allow housing on the site. The block now holds retail businesses and apartment units that would be replaced or redeveloped as part of the project. The outlet notes that the filing does not name an architect-of-record or provide a construction schedule.
Where rezoning would matter
The parcel sits in the corridor just south of the Queensboro Bridge targeted by the city’s OneLIC Neighborhood Plan, a 54-block rezoning effort that the Mayor's Office says could deliver roughly 14,700 new housing units and open space under the bridge. The plan aims to flip low-rise manufacturing and commercial parcels into transit-oriented, mixed-use blocks while adding parks and more school capacity. As The Real Deal has reported, that rezoning has the potential to unlock sizable private development on sites that were previously locked into industrial use.
Neighbors, advocates and politics
Local power brokers have not exactly been quiet about OneLIC. Community boards, elected officials and neighborhood groups have been wrestling with the plan’s tradeoffs, from fears of displacement to demands for permanently affordable, family-sized apartments and more public space beneath the bridge. Coverage by QNS has highlighted packed public hearings and vocal pushback. Reporting on affordability concerns has also underscored how proposals tied to OneLIC are likely to trigger negotiations over community benefits.
Developer, approvals and the clock
The Moinian Group, a prolific New York developer with a long list of rental towers and commercial buildings, is listed as the applicant on the filing, according to The Moinian Group. Any rezoning request for the site would first need to be certified by the Department of City Planning, then would move into the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP. Under ULURP, there are set review windows for community boards, the borough president, the City Planning Commission and the City Council, as outlined in guidance from the NYC Department of City Planning. Pre-filing work and environmental review can stretch the overall timeline well beyond those formal clocks.
The New York Business Journal notes that the latest filing does not include a timetable for approvals or construction, so for now the tower is more idea than inevitability. If the application is certified, expect a fresh round of community meetings, notice from the Department of City Planning and a crowded calendar for the local community board as the proposal works its way through the public process.
