47-15 34th Avenue (Ashley Young LLC and John Young Associates via DCP)
The Department of City Planning has ruled that the upzoning of two Astoria development sites to allow for residential development would not have a significant adverse effect on the environment. On one development site at 47-15 34th Avenue, applicants Ashley Young LLC and John Young Associates are seeking to redevelop a strip of low-rise retail buildings into a 14-floor, 238-unit rental building. The site is just off Northern Boulevard, a block from the 46th Street subway station and near Sunnyside Railyards. The second assemblage across 47th Street is not owned by the applicants but is included in the rezoning request.
Currently, the majority of the lots comprising the development sites are within a C8-1 district which does not allow for residential development. The applicants submitted an Environmental Assesment Statement (EAS) to the Department of City Planning rezone the properties to R7X/C2-4 and R6B/C2-4 district which would allow for residential development and an increase in overall density.
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The applicants' project would bring an approximately 145-foot-tall building with 161 market-rate units and 40 affordable apartments. The building would have an elevated courtyard, nearly 9,000-square feet of retail, a 5,000-square-foot community facility, and 77 on-site parking spaces. The upzoning would trigger the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) program which requires affordable housing be provided for 30% of the residential floor area.
According to the City Planning Commission, the upzoning would not overburden existing open space resources and would not result in any adverse shadow, air, noise, or other environmental impacts that would affect any open spaces nearby. They also believed the proposal would be compatible with the land use, zoning patterns, and development trends within the surrounding area. The development would have a tiered massing, scaling up from 4 to 14 floors. The tallest portions of the building would face onto wide 34th Avenue and Northern Boulevard while the shorter wings will be more in scale to walk-up buildings lining 47th and 48th Streets.
The project application will next need the approval of the local community board and City Council to move forward. If approved, the applicants expect the new building to be finished by 2022. The second development site across 47th Street is projected to yield a 4-floor, 37-unit building.
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