BY BILL PARRY
A massive film production
studio project in Astoria,
helmed by Robert De Niro, is
on the fast track after his son
Raphael checked off all the
boxes during a virtual land
use hearing at Queens Borough
Hall.
The $400 million Wildflower
Studios complex would
be built next to the Steinway
Piano company along Luyster
Creek near the East River,
bringing employment opportunities
to western Queens as
the COVID-19 economic recovery
is underway.
“We’re excited to be doing
this project given what the
city’s been through in the last
18 months,” developer Raphael
De Niro said. “The timing
couldn’t be better in terms of
job creation.”
He expects the project will
bring at least 500 construction
jobs and around 1,000 to 1,200
workers a day once the studio
is completed. De Niro said his
firm is already having talks
with Urban Upbound about
job opportunities for residents
of the Astoria, Queensbridge
and Ravenswood Houses as
well as preliminary conversations
with LaGuardia Community
College, the Frank
Sinatra High School for the
Arts and the Variety Boys &
Girls Club.
“This is a great project,
jobs coming to Queens, and a
real opportunity to reach out
to high school students to give
them experience and perhaps
some internship opportunities,”
Queens Borough President
Donovan Richards said.
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“It’s a jobs producer. It’s a nobrainer.”
Community Board 1 approved
of the project last
month by a 35-to-1 vote as
part of the city’s public review
process. The seven-story,
715,000-square-foot studio
will house 11 sound stages,
off-street parking for over 300
vehicles and waterfront access
for the public along the Luyster
Creek waterfront.
“We have a little bit of affinity
for this area and Queens
having shot scenes for A
Bronx Tale in Astoria in ’92
and ‘93,” De Niro said. “I actually
The film studio project in Astoria, proposed by Robert De Niro and
his partners, is on the fast track through the city’s public review
process. Renderings courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group
worked as a production assistant
during the shooting so
we’re very familiar with the
area and the borough.”
De Niro went on to describe
how the complex is being designed
with a small cafeteria
and no restaurants and no
commissary to encourage
studio employees to partake
of area restaurants instead of
staying on campus.
“One of the greatest things
about Astoria is that, to us, it’s
one of the most food-rich and
amenity-rich neighborhoods
in New York City,” De Niro
said. “And so we are going to
be encouraging everyone to
eat in the community.”
He added the project requires
discretionary approval
from the Department of City
Planning.
“I like it. It’s a great project
for Queens,” Richards said.
“And I’m looking forward to
it.”
Plans for Robert De Niro-led fi lm
studio in Astoria move forward
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