DLR Group, the design firm charged with reimagining the Variety Boys and Girls Club’s Astoria clubhouse, is taking its blueprint to the borough’s biggest stage on foot. The company will field a team of runners in the TCS New York City Marathon to raise money and attention for the overhaul of the club’s headquarters at 21-12 30th Road, tying its design work directly to a public fundraising push.
Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens said in a May 11 blog post that members of the DLR team will run on the club’s behalf and linked to an NYRR fundraising page to collect donations. “We love that the same people designing our new home are out there running for our club,” the post said, pitching the marathon effort as both a fundraiser and a public show of support for the rebuild.
What’s Being Built
Government and project documents describe a multi hundred million dollar redevelopment that would replace the club’s existing 1950s building with a much larger community campus. The Governor’s office has characterized the initiative as a roughly $300 million, 14 story project that includes a new clubhouse and more than 200 units of affordable housing, and New York City Council land use filings show the team seeking rezoning for the site at 21-12 30th Road. City Council filings.
Housing, Services And Scale
Local coverage has filled in the sketch with more detail. Reporters have described the future clubhouse as roughly 120,000 to 125,000 square feet and pointed to planned amenities that include an aquatics center, a planetarium, a theater, a hockey rink and a dedicated children’s mental health center. The reporting also cites a 236 unit, carbon neutral affordable housing component with about 69 units reserved for youth aging out of foster care, and organizers say the rebuilt campus could serve as many as 16,000 children every year. Queens Ledger.
Design Team Joins The Race
DLR Group, which lists Maria Wilpon as a New York principal, is credited as the architecture lead on the redesign, and the firm’s staff will carry that role all the way from Staten Island to Central Park. The club’s announcement underscores the partnership, and local outlet QNS has reported that DLR called the marathon run “a gesture of solidarity,” with Wilpon saying the race “teaches resilience, courage and gratitude.” DLR Group.
The club’s blog directs supporters to an NYRR fundraising page tied to the runners and to the broader capital campaign behind the rebuild. Organizers say the marathon push is one piece of a larger effort to lock down both private and public funding so the project can move from design to construction. Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens.
For Astoria neighbors, the collaboration is a very local twist on the citywide spectacle. The same architects who are drawing up new pools, a planetarium and performance spaces are also logging the miles to help pay for them, as officials continue to piece together the financing. City news outlets touted a funding rollout last October that brought new state and city investment to expand the club’s reach.
