Advocates Push Mayor for More Affordable Housing At Astoria Cove [UPDATED]

Ahead of a New York City Planning Commission hearing Wednesday on the fate of the proposed Astoria Cove mixed-use development in Queens, a coalition of affordable housing advocates have penned a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio calling for 50 percent of the project's 1,700 residential units to be affordable. 

In the letter, addressed the to de Blasio, Alicia Glen, the deputy mayor for housing and economic development, and City Planning Commissioner Carl Weisbrod, the "Real Affordability for All" coalition cites the fact that both Community Board 1 in Astoria and Queens Borough President Melinda Katz have come out against the Astoria Cove proposal--which includes five mixed-use buildings, retail stores and space for an elementary school--because of what they deemed as an insufficient amount of affordable housing. The 50 percent number, the coalition writes, would represent a clear commitment on the part of the administration to follow through on its plan to bridge the affordability gap in the city. 

"You have made the fight against inequality a centerpiece of your administration, but to live up to that commitment it’s time to elevate real affordability as a top priority for your housing agenda in the city," the coalition writes in its letter. "Astoria Cove is a great place to start. It should be a new progressive model of real affordability for struggling families, rather than a continuation of the worst of Bloomberg’s luxury development."

In a statement, Wiley Norvell, a spokesman for the mayor's office, indicated that the administration would let the Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP) play out with the Astoria Cove project before weighing in on deepening the affordability requirements. 

“The project still has to come before the City Planning Commission, and there’s a lengthy review process ahead to determine if it will meet the needs of this community," Norvell said. "Maximizing affordability and simultaneously fostering development is a major priority of this administration at this and all other projects.”

The project's development team, which includes Alma Realty Corp., original proposed zoning changes for the mixed-use project on the East River waterfront was a classic "80/20" deal for housing--which stipulates that in exchange for tax-exempt bonds to finance construction, 20 percent of apartment units must be reserved for low-income tenants--as many as 345 units in this case. Both Katz and the community board have balked at that number, with the latter calling for an increase to up to 35 percent affordable units. 

These 80/20 deals were a hallmark of the city's housing development boom during the Bloomberg administration, and upon the release of his affordable housing plan in May, de Blasio indicated that the city would pivot to more inclusive models for housing development, even alluding to more 50/30/20 arrangements--50 percent market rate units, 30 percent moderate-income units, and 20 percent low-income units.

The mayor cautioned that "every site is different and every situation is different," but that the city would "drive a hard bargain" with developers, a promise that was encouraging to affordable housing advocates. However, the administration's reluctance thus far to release further details on the housing plan since its initial release has contributed to a growing sense of unease within the housing community, advocates say. 

When asked whether the administration's silence on the housing plan is disconcerting, Jaron Benjamin, the executive director of the Metropolitan Council on Housing, one of many groups that signed on to the coalition, harkened back to the mayor's promise to get tough in negotiations with developers. 

"What’s more concerning than the silence has been the tepid negotiations that the administration said during the plan to release, that they were going to drive a harder bargain with developers, we want to see them actually do that," Benjamin said. "It’s not so concerning if the mayor’s office isn’t out there saying the right thing all the time, but it is concerning if they’re going to allow Alma Realty to get everything they want and totally ignore what the borough president, what the community board, and what so many people in Astoria have said that there’s not enough affordable housing here and there’s not a commitment of jobs that are going to lead to the careers."

The Astoria Cove developers have tried to sweeten the deal as they navigate the ULURP process, offering a design proposal for a potential ferry terminal should the city decide to extend ferry service to the Hallets Point peninsula adjacent to the project. City Councilman Costa Constanides, whose district includes Astoria and whose vote will determine the project's fate in the Council, had previously indicated that a ferry proposal would make him more amenable to the project. 

The City Planning Commission will hold its public hearing on the Astoria Cove proposal Wednesday. If the commission approves the project, it would then go before the Council for the deciding vote. 

The Real Affordability for All coalition plans to keep the pressure on the administration with a planned "March for Good Jobs & Affordable Housing" on Wednesday, August 20 in Harlem.

This story has been updated to include a statement from the mayor's office.