4 THE QUEENS COURIER • DECEMBER 23, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Arverne East megaproject moving forward with fi rst phase
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th e massive Arverne East project in the
Rockaways is moving forward aft er L+M
Development Partners, the Bluestone
Organization and Triangle Equities
closed on $30.3 million in fi nancing for
the fi rst phase of the megadevelopment
on a vacant 116-acre oceanfront site.
Th e Arverne East development will
include 1,650 units of housing — 80%
aff ordable and 20% market-rate — serving
low-income to middle-income individuals
and families, on city-owned land
that has been vacant and dilapidated for
more than 40 years.
“As committed members of the Arverne
and Edgemere communities for over a
decade, we are proud to bring this site
to life through a project that will set a
new standard for sustainable and resilient
development,” L+M Development
Partners Senior Director Sara Levenson
said. “Arverne East will provide a host
of long-awaited neighborhood resources
and further support the economic revitalization
of the central and eastern sections
of the Rockaway Peninsula.”
Queens Borough President Donovan
Richards grew up across the street in the
Ocean Villages apartments staring at the
blighted oceanfront parcel of land. He
supported the Arverne East project saying
it would bring “an economic justice”
solution to the Rockaways, which have
seen far more development in the western
portion of the peninsula in recent years.
“Arverne East is a true communityfi
rst and environmentally friendly project
that will bring much-needed housing,
stores, community space and other
amenities to a long-neglected neighborhood,”
Richards said. “Th e fact that
Arverne East will include an innovative
nature preserve and be the city’s fi rst netzero
community makes this development
truly transformational in every sense of
the word. I am very pleased to see that
this ambitious project is moving forward
quickly, and I look forward to seeing the
residents of the Rockaways enjoy all of
its benefi ts.”
Th e project’s fi rst phase includes a
35-acre nature preserve between Beach
44th Street and Beach 56th Place. Th e
project’s main retail corridor will connect
the 36th Street A train subway station
to the beach, and it will be anchored
by a new full production brewery and restaurant
to be operated by the Rockaway
Brewing Company as well as a beachfront
hotel.
“Th is project is extremely important to
the development of Arverne by getting
rid of the vacant properties which have
been a blight to the community,” state
Senator Joseph Addabbo said. “It creates
jobs through the construction of the
project and with the new retail space that
will be coming. As we head into 2022, I
will continue to work with my colleagues
in government to ensure that this project
progresses and is completed on time.”
Assemblyman Khaleel Anderson said
he is looking forward to the expansion
of “truly aff ordable housing” and homeownership
opportunities for families on
Far Rockaway.
“My role as an Assembly member is to
ensure that the developers honor their
commitments to our community in prioritizing
aff ordable housing, homeownership,
local hiring and environmental
sustainability,” Anderson said. “I look forward
to continued partnership with my
colleagues in government, the Arverne
East Community Advisory Board, and
the developers to ensure the community
has a voice in this project.”
Funding for the fi rst phase was provided
by the city Department of Housing
Preservation and Development.
“In moving forward with this longenvisioned
plan for Arverne East, we are
ushering in a more resilient and inclusive
future for the Rockaway community,”
HPD Commissioner Louise Carroll said.
“More than 1,300 aff ordable homes will
follow the nature preserve, breathing new
life into a site that has gone undeveloped
and unused for decades. We’re proud of
the hard work and ingenuity from our
development partners and staff that went
into making this possible.”
MTA to release ‘totally redone’ Queens bus network redesign draft in early 2022
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
After Metropolitan Transportation
Authority leaders gave the fi nal sign-off
on the redesign of the Bronx’s bus network,
transit offi cials revealed they will
roll out a revised draft plan for an overhaul
in Queens early next year.
MTA offi cials plan to publish a “totally
redone” proposal for bus routes in the
“World’s Borough” some time in the fi rst
quarter of 2022, in other words by the end
of March, aft er the agency’s sweeping earlier
proposal faced backlash from locals
during heated public meetings just before
the pandemic.
“What you’re going to see is a totally
redone draft plan in Queens,” said interim
New York City Transit President Craig
Cipriano during a press conference aft er
MTA’s monthly board meeting on Dec. 15.
MTA halted eff orts to remake its bus
routes borough-by-borough during the
pandemic and the Queens proposal
already had a draft plan before the pause.
Th e prior plan describes the Queens
network as a “confusing labyrinth” combining
old trolley lines and routes run by
competing private bus companies predating
the MTA.
Bus ridership in Queens was on the
decline before the pandemic, shrinking by
5.4% during 2014-2019 from 728,872 to
689,702 average weekday riders, as speeds
slowed to 8.7 miles per hour.
Th e old plan proposed to wipe the slate
clean and introduce a whole new bus network
with straighter and simplifi ed routes
and stops spaced further apart, but locals
balked at the elimination of some routes
at public meetings before the plans were
put on hold.
More than 11,000 people have sent in
comments about the previously proposed
changes to the borough’s sprawling bus
network, according to Cipriano.
“Th e core piece of redesign eff orts is listening
to our customers and other stakeholders,
electeds, and you’re going to see
that with the Queens redesign,” he said.
MTA’s acting chairperson and CEO
Janno Lieber — who has promoted better
buses as an “engine of equity,” due to the
people movers disproportionately serving
lower-income communities of color
— said it was crucial to hear out Queens
residents.
“Th ere’s no place that buses matter more
than Queens, because the history of the
city,” Lieber said. “It has 2.3 million people
but a lot less subway service than other
parts of the city so bus redesign, Queens,
really important and it deserves full attention
in the months to come.”
MTA revived the borough redesigns in
August starting with the Bronx, which
was the fi rst borough to get a redesign
approved by the Authority’s 21-member
board since the agency overhauled the
Staten Island Express Bus routes back in
2018.
Th e agency will start working on the
northern borough’s 46 routes in the
summer of 2022, redrawing 16 of them
and adding two new ones, while collaborating
with the city’s Department
of Transportation — which controls the
streets — to paint red bus lanes on hightraffi
c corridors.
Offi cials plan to ax about 20% of stops
in the Bronx, and one advocate said straphangers
will likely have to sacrifi ce stations
in Queens too in exchange for faster trips.
“Historically we’ve had some of the closest
spacing of stops in the world and
that’s part of what makes them so slow,”
said Danny Pearlstein of Riders Alliance.
“Th e bus was never meant to be a doorto
door service and MTA planners have to
balance spacing with the speeds.”
“You can’t have a fast bus that stops on
every corner,” he said.
Th e redesigns were part of MTA’s Fast
Forward systemwide modernization plan
pushed by former NYCT President and
“train daddy” Andy Byford.
Th ey were originally supposed to wrap
up in 2021, but MTA postponed completion
until 2026 citing the pandemic and
staffi ng shortages to do all the public outreach.
Th e plan for the next borough, Brooklyn,
was at an earlier stage pre-COVID and
Cipriano said the agency will keep staff
focusing on Queens for now.
“In regards to the Brooklyn redesign,
we’re also going to pick up those eff orts,”
he said. “We’re trying to balance out …
how many of those resources will be taken
from Queens needed in Brooklyn. So we’ll
have more to say in the coming year in
that regard.”
File photo by Todd Maisel
A bus passes through Jamaica Avenue in Queens.
Courtesy of Local Offi ce Landscape/Bernheimer Architecture
The Arverne East development in the Rockaways is moving forward with its transformational
project that will bring 1,650 units of housing to abandoned waterfront land.
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