HALLETS POINT — A number of projects planned along the East River — including ferry service, new residential housing and a kayak dock — are poised to transform the isolated Astoria waterfront into a neighborhood destination in the coming years, a local lawmaker says.
Councilman Costa Constantinides hopes the changes in store for Hallets Point, a peninsula south of Astoria Park that's home to the NYCHA Astoria Houses, will boost tourism in the neighborhood and help residents enjoy and connect with the river.
"We're a waterfront community, and yet we have very limited interaction with our waterfront," said the lawmaker, who helped organize a "Waterfront Festival" near the Astoria Houses on Saturday, which included a beach clean-up and arts and craft activities for kids.
There, he highlighted the number of changes coming to the area, including the city's plan to build a new ferry dock at Hallets Point by 2017, which will connect residents to Long Island City, Roosevelt Island, and midtown and lower Manhattan.
Constantinides is also helping to replace a dilapidated pier near the Astoria Houses along Vernon Boulevard with an eco-dock — a proposal he announced in his State of the District speech earlier this year — which will be used to launch kayaks and allow local groups to access the river for educational programs.
"Unlike a ferry dock, it's not mono-purpose — many different kinds of vessels can go there," said Roland Lewis, head of the advocacy group Waterfront Alliance, who said they're hoping to design the Astoria eco-dock to accommodate larger boats, like schooners and sailboats, as well as kayaks.
It would also be used for science programs for local schools and other organizations, similar to what's currently done at another eco-dock which opened in Brooklyn Bridge Park in 2013.
"Think of it as an open-air classroom — to grow oysters, to do water testing. You can do all sorts of environmental education," Lewis said.
Constantinides and Queens Borough President Melinda Katz are each dedicating $1 million toward the eco-dock project.
Other improvements are also in store nearby: a $1.21 million renovation is planned for the Hallets Cove Playground with $210,000 coming from the councilman's budget and $1 million from the borough president. Constantinides has also set aside $350,000 to upgrade the basketball courts at the Astoria Houses, he said.
These are part of even bigger changes in store for area, as developers are planning two massive residential housing projects on the peninsula. The Hallets Point development will build more than 2,000 apartments and is supposed to break ground this fall, while Astoria Cove will bring another 1,700 or so units.
Both projects involve building public esplanades along the river, and when completed, the spaces will form a continuous "greenway" on the Astoria waterfront from Astoria Park to Socrates Sculpture Park further south, according to Constantinides.
"It will be an entire change at this waterfront," he said.
Andre Stith, a longtime Astoria Houses resident who works for the local nonprofit Zone 126, said he's looking forward to the transformation.
"I think it's great. Anything that involves change is great," he said, saying the neighborhood's waterfront — including the rotting pier that the Eco-Dock will replace — has remained virtually the same since he moved to the area decades ago.
"This was here, the pier was here, still looks the same way it did in 1977," he said.
