ASTORIA — A large residential housing complex proposed for Astoria's Hallets Point may include a bus service to shuttle future tenants from the waterfront development to the nearest train station about a mile away, DNAinfo.com has learned.
Developers are asking for a zoning change to move forward with plans for Astoria Cove, a project that would bring over 1,700 apartments and condos to a stretch of the Astoria waterfront that is largely desolate except for a NYCHA housing complex.
It's one of two major housing developments proposed for the Hallets Point peninsula — a chunk of land that juts out into the East River, just south of Astoria Park — which is several blocks from the nearest subway station.
"We're very sensitive to the concerns about transportation," said Howard Weiss, an attorney for 2030 Astoria Developers, the group behind the project, which is being headed by Efstathios Valiotis of the Queens-based real estate group Alma Realty.
Weiss said Valitotis is working with the city on the possibility of bringing more transit options to the neighborhood — including a push for a ferry stop at Hallets Point — but that they're also considering providing their own transit.
The proposed shuttle would run during morning and evening rush hours and would be for Astoria Cove residents exclusively, bringing them from the development to the N/Q Subway Station about a mile away, Weiss said.
"We're contemplating both, beyond working with the MTA, to ensure that in terms of public transportation we'd be able to support the population here," Weiss said.
Three bus routes run through the area, but the 30th Avenue N/Q line station, which two pass by, is about a mile away.
Both Astoria Cove and the Hallets Point project are being proposed in close proximity to the NYCHA campus of the Astoria Houses, which takes up much of the other half of the Hallets Point peninsula.
Some residents there told DNAinfo.com last year that they would welcome the new amenities development would bring — particularly schools and supermarkets — as long as they were accessible to NYCHA residents as well.
Astoria Cove is proposed for a manufacturing area along 26th Avenue, between 4th and 9th Streets, just a short distance from where another major housing project is being planned.
Lincoln Equities Group which is vying to develop seven acres of Hallets Point into more than 2,000 apartments, a waterfront public esplanade, a supermarket and possibly a school.
Astoria Cove would be made up of a series of seven mixed-use buildings, ranging from eight stories to 30 stories. The development would include 1,701 residential apartments and condos, 340 of which would be reserved for affordable housing.
The development would include 117,000-square-feet of retail space, including a supermarket, 940 parking spaces and an accessible waterfront esplanade that would run the length of the site, according to the project's plans. The developers are also exploring the possibility of a 456-seat school at the site with the School Construction Authority, Weiss said.
Weiss said he and his client believe the plan would improve Hallets Point overall.
"That is a part of Astoria that’s laid fallow for a long time, and was begging for some attention and development," he said.
The Department of City Planning will hold a public scoping session on the Astoria Cove development proposal on May 28.
