■REAL ESTATE BY LIAM LA GUERRE [email protected] I @LiamLaGuerre City Council passes Astoria Cove development project The City Council voted overwhelmingly to approve the Astoria Cove mega development on Nov. 25, clearing the way for the major land use project. The project now goes to Mayor Bill de Blasio for his likely approval. He has already praised the project after concessions were made by the developer to boost the amount of affordable housing included. He has five days to either sign or veto the measure. Earlier in the month, Astoria Cove developers delayed the City Council Land Use Committee vote to strike a last-minute deal with elected officials concerned about having enough affordable housing in order to win committee support for the project. Now more than 460 units of the 1,723 total apartments throughout the 2.2-million-squarefoot project on the Astoria waterfront will be affordable housing. Developers also agreed to hire union labor for construction and building maintenance jobs associated with the project, and commit to building a ferry dock. “This agreement shows what we can achieve when the private and public sectors work together,” Astoria Councilman Costa Constantinides said. “This agreement provides real benefits to the neighborhood and will help further link our booming communities along the East River.” Astoria Cove will consist of five buildings, three on the waterfront ranging from 26 to 32 stories and two on the upland portion of the site, including a six-story residential building. The project, which is anticipated to take more than 10 years to complete in four different phases, will also include about 84,000 square feet of publicly accessible open space, a school and some retail. Renderings courtesy of STUDIO V Architecture
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