QNS Innovation Developers of Astoria to Host Community Town Hall
ASTORIA, QUEENS — The developers behind the massive QNS Innovation Project will hold a community town hall later this month, giving residents the chance to learn more and ask questions about the proposal.
It will be held between 4 and 7 p.m. on April 20 at the Museum of the Moving Image at 35th Avenue and 37th Street. All ages are welcome, with live translation into Spanish, Greek, Mandarin, Bengali and ASL available on request.
The $2 billion QNS innovation the proposal would rezone five blocks from 37th Street to North Boulevard, between 35th and 36th Avenues – bringing 12 new buildings with 2,800 apartments, offices, a grocery store and other amenities to an area currently dominated by parking lots and industrial buildings.
Its developers are a joint team of Silverstein Properties, BedRock Real Estate Partners and Kaufman Astoria Studios, whose campus includes the museum where the town hall will be housed.
The April 20 forum will include two separate 90-minute sessions to accommodate different venue schedules and capacities. The promoters will present their project before answering questions from the inhabitants.
The planned meeting comes weeks after Councilwoman Julie Won blasted the developers over a lack of awareness among neighbors, especially Spanish and Bengali speakers, she said. First unveiled in 2020, the project is now in the early stages of a year-long public review process which will culminate in a final city council vote – where Won’s position will be influential.
However, it was rejected by members of the community council, who expressed concerns about the affordability of the apartments, the height of the new buildings, and the disappearance of a public school from the original proposal.
Backers say the project would help revitalize an “underused” area in South Astoria; in addition to housing and office space, Innovation QNS would include a new movie theater replacing the current Regal UA Kaufman Astoria, two acres of open space, and 200,000 square feet of retail space.
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