Slate, Hudson Cos. Picked To Develop Massive Queens Housing Project
Almost 1,000 new homes are coming to a long-vacant site in Long Island City.
The city selected Slate Property Group, The Hudson Cos. and nonprofit developer Volunteers of America to develop The Orion, a 980-unit housing development in a western portion of the Queens neighborhood known as Hunter’s Point South, according to a release.
The project is expected to cost between $650M and $700M and is expected to begin construction in “the next few years,” a spokesperson for the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development said.
The units will be spread across three buildings on the 70K SF lot at 54-42 Second St.
Two-thirds of the new apartments would be set aside as affordable housing, the majority of which will be for extremely low- to moderate-income New Yorkers. Approximately 149 of the 658 affordable units will function as supportive housing.
“Solving our affordability crisis will require creative solutions and a roll-up-your sleeves approach to create housing that works for all New Yorkers and allows them to live in dynamic, diverse, and desirable neighborhoods,” Slate Property Group principal and co-founder David Schwartz said in a statement.
The city expects to provide some form of subsidy for the project, which would also make use of the low-income housing tax credit, the HPD spokesperson said. The deal includes the city selling the land to the developers, subject to regulatory approval.
“We must leave no stone unturned as we seek to increase our city’s housing supply,” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said in a statement. “I am thrilled that this long-vacant lot will be turned into beautiful new homes for hundreds of Queens families.”
The development, designed by Manhattan-based, minority-owned Marvel Architects, would also include 6K SF of retail space and 9K SF of community offerings operated by local nonprofit Commonpoint Queens, including a childcare center, a workforce development center and an indoor community pool.
Residents in all three buildings would be able to access the project’s amenities, alongside other facilities including rooftop terraces, bike storage and fitness space.
“This project shows how we can use public land to deliver mixed-use projects that benefit future residents and the surrounding community alike,” Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg said in a statement.
The developers have yet to secure financing, but The Orion will be the first project to receive a long-term loan provided under the HPD's Mixed Income Market Initiative.
Projects that have a roughly 70-30 split for affordable and market-rate units and set aside at least 15% of units for formerly homeless New Yorkers are eligible for the program, which was introduced by then-Mayor Eric Adams in 2023.
The project continues Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s push to advance his administration’s ambitious housing agenda, which has set a goal of producing 200,000 new affordable homes and preserving an additional 200,000 homes by 2036.
The NYC Economic Development Corp. started soliciting applications this month to develop another city-owned site in East Harlem with 140 apartments at 2453 Second Ave.
The city council is also gradually advancing other major projects proposed by developers to ease the city's housing affordability crisis, with June rents rising 8% year-over-year in Manhattan and Brooklyn to new record highs, according to The Corcoran Group.
Council members voted last week to approve a rezoning at Monitor Point, paving the way for Gotham Organization to build 1,324 units.
In May, the council also approved the city’s first expedited land review process to facilitate developing an eight-story, 84-unit affordable apartment building on a city-owned Mott Haven site, New York YIMBY reported.
