LONG ISLAND CITY — A long-vacant Queens building once used to manufacture envelopes is set to reopen this fall as an office and retail complex with a rooftop garden and a free gym for tenants.
Developer Alma Realty is converting the former Apple Tag & Label factory at 30-30 Northern Blvd. into an 8-story office building with 7,200-square-feet of retail space on the ground floor, plans that have been underway since 2012.
The $60 million, 213,000-square-foot project will be called the Apple Building and will boast a free fitness center for office workers, two outdoor terraces and a "park-like" roof deck with plants and benches, according to a press release.
The building — built in 1917, city records show — will also sport the original red apple sign that used to adorn a tower on top of the factory, which has been refurbished and will light up, the developer said.
While leases have yet to be signed, Alma Realty envisions the site as home to companies in technology, media and other creative sectors, according to a statement.
"In a matter of months, the building will become home to what we envision as a world-class group of tenants who will enliven and enrich the community," said Peter Kosteas, Alma's commercial property manager.
Alma Realty had previously planned to build a three-story retail building adjacent to the Apple factory site, though a spokesman for the company could not immediately provide on update on that proposal.
The Apple Building will be one of several new amenity-laden office buildings in Long Island City looking to lure companies from Manhattan and Brooklyn.
These include The Bindery, which is under construction in a former warehouse at 30-02 48th Ave. and will offer office workers food vendors and a gym with showers, as well as The Factory on 47th Avenue and The Falchi Building across the street.
