ASTORIA — The boulevard is booming.
There's been a rush of residential construction along Astoria Boulevard between 21st and 31st streets, with eight buildings already built or on the way to the stretch in the last three years, Department of Building records show.
The projects will bring more than 150 new apartments to this formerly sleepy corridor, several offering higher-end amenities like dishwashers, roof decks and on-site laundry.
Experts say the change is driven by a 2010 rezoning that let developers build bigger along the street, and because of rising demand for people who want to live there because of easy access to Manhattan.
"It's a zoning allowing it and a market that's accepting it," said George Halvatzis, founder of Halvatzis Realty on Ditmars Boulevard, who called the area "a new pocket of Astoria."
He said many of the new projects are competing with Astoria's older housing stock, drawing tenants priced out of Manhattan or Brooklyn with amenities like stainless steel appliances, free Wi-Fi and virtual doormen.
"You're getting a better class of tenant now who wants better, who wants newer," he said, adding that "better" will inevitably mean higher rents. "They're asking premium prices for anywhere new now."
A new building at 23-15 Astoria Blvd., for example, offers tenants a roof deck, elevator, free bike storage and "condo-style finishes" like high-gloss cabinets and heated bathroom floors, according to broker George Rivera of East Hudson Realty.
The 37 one-bedroom apartments will be available for move-in starting June 1, with rents starting at $2,235 a month — what Rivera described as "about the range now for new construction."
Demetrius Partridge, owner of Partridge Realty, also attributes the burst in new construction to the rezoning and to "young people who finally discovered there's another borough other than Brooklyn."
He bought his building at 23-05 Astoria Blvd. 15 years ago, a decision his brothers — fellow realtors — chided him for back then, he said.
"'There's nothing over there,'" he recalls them telling him at at the time.
"They all thought I was insane," he said. "Now I look like a freaking genius."
Here's a look at some of Astoria Boulevard's newest buildings.
► 22-07 Astoria Blvd.
DOB records show plans for a six-story building with nine apartments proposed for this site. A rendering on the construction plywood reveals a slender brick building with balconies and a retail shop on the ground floor.
► 23-09 Astoria Blvd.
The newly-opened five-story slate gray building contains nine apartments a bicycle storage space on the first floor, building records show. A two-bedroom in the building is listed online for $2,600. There's also a cafe and tea house that recently opened on the ground floor.
► 23-15 Astoria Blvd.
Apartments at a new seven-story building with 37 units, several of them with balconies, will be available starting June 1. Rents start at $2,235, according to broker George Rivera of East Hudson Realty. It comes with a roof deck, bike storage and heated bathroom floors, he added.
► 23-23 Astoria Blvd.
Plans were filed in 2014 for an eight-story building here with 14 apartments, DOB records show. But the city issued a partial stop work order at this construction site on April 19 for failure to provide approved design drawings and because the work "does not conform to approved documents," according to city records. The developer was not immediately reachable.
► 23-25 Astoria Blvd.
The property owner of a construction site blocked off with plywood is planning a seven-story building with 12 apartments, according to DOB records.
► 26-05 28th St. 
Under construction at the corner of 28th Street and Astoria Boulevard, this will be a six-story mixed-use building with 28 units, according to building records. A rendering of the project shows a glassy ground floor and a rooftop terrace.
► 28-18 Astoria Blvd.
A seven-story building called "The Slate" with 28 luxury one-bedroom apartments is slated for this lot, according to a sign outside. The developer's website says the building was constructed in 2015 and offers a virtual doorman, roof deck, laundry and health club. Rents are listed as $2,850 and up.
► 28-22 Astoria Blvd.
This red brick corner property is still under construction, though DOB records show the owners are planning a seven-story mixed-use building with 25 units, laundry in the basement and retail on the first floor.
