ASTORIA — The Durst Organization filed plans for the second building in its stalled Hallets Point project — an effort to get designs approved under the city's current building code, while actual construction is still on hold due to the state's lapsed 421-a program, the developer says.
Plans for the new 14-story, 163-unit building at 3-24 27th Ave., which is currently a NYCHA-owned parking lot on the Astoria Houses campus, were filed with the Department of Buildings on Sept. 29, records show. New York YIMBY first reported on the filings.
Durst says it cannot move forward with construction of the building — or any of the five remaining buildings planned for Hallets Point — until the state's 421-a program, or something similar, is revived.
But Durst spokesman Jordan Barowitz said in the meantime, they want to get the plans approved for the second building because it had already designed it to current building codes, and does not want to have to redesign the plans to new codes if, or when, 421-a is renewed.
► RELATED: What the 421-a Tax Break Stalemate in Albany Means for NYC Housing
The program, which provided tax breaks for developers, expired in January — a day after Durst broke ground on its first building at Hallets Point, halting future phases of the project because the developer says it will be too expensive to build without the tax cuts.
The application was sent back to developers by the Department of Buildings earlier this week because of incomplete paperwork, according to DOB spokesman Alexander Schnell.
So far, the only building moving forward in the Hallets Point plan is one currently under construction on 1st Street and 26th Avenue, which broke ground in January. It will contain about 400 apartments, 80 percent of which will be below-market-rate.
"Without 421-a or a replacement nothing besides building 1 (the one under construction now) gets built," Barowitz said in an email to DNAinfo this week.
The entire $1.5 billion project was intended to be built out over a seven-year span, with seven buildings containing more than 2,000 apartments on the Astoria waterfront, 483 of them affordable, as well as a new school on Astoria Houses property.
The state's 421-a program expired in January after the Real Estate Board of New York and the Building and Construction Trades Council were unable to agree on new wage provisions for it.
Political and industry leaders are continuing discussions about potentially reviving the controversial 421-a tax break program, Politico reported last week.
