Astoria Shopping Center Site Seeks Rezoning for 492 Homes
The ULURP application would replace a one-to-two story shopping center with a mixed-use building and 62,000 sq ft of ground-floor retail.
LaGuardia Center Realty LLC asks the city to rezone 43-02 Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria so a one-to-two story shopping center could become a mixed-use building with 492 homes, according to the project record at the Department of City Planning.
Why it matters
For residential developers, this is a request to turn an M1-1 light manufacturing lot into mid-rise residential in Queens Community District 1, with Mandatory Inclusionary Housing attached. Of the 492 homes, 123 would be income-restricted, which is 25 percent. The application also keeps 62,000 sq ft of ground-floor retail in the program, so lenders and retail brokers should read it as a mixed-use underwriting, not a pure rental play.
The proposal is not an approval. It is a pending ULURP application, and nothing in the record shows a vote.
The numbers
The project, ID 2022Q0214, seeks a zoning map amendment from M1-1 to R7A/C2-4, R6A/C2-4 and R6B, plus a zoning text amendment to Appendix F to map MIH on the site. The two actions are numbered 250273ZMQ and 250274ZRQ. The environmental review is an EAS, number 26DCP121Q, with City Planning as lead agency.
The city’s records list the applicant as LaGuardia Center Realty LLC and the lot as Queens block 782, lot 1 (BBL 4007820001). The record gives no lot area or floor area ratio, so we cannot compute homes per acre or a price per buildable foot. An ACRIS search of the address found no recorded documents in the range we could query, so we have no purchase price for the site.
The ZAP file shows the application was filed April 24, 2025, and that its land-use application milestone began Sept. 23, 2026. We checked whether this site is tied to the $72 million LaGuardia Associates deed we covered Oct. 3. It is not: that deed covers a different parcel, block 1640, lot 25. Read our deed report separately.
What’s next
The next steps are the formal ULURP clock: Community Board 1 review, the Borough President, the City Planning Commission and then the City Council. Watch the ZAP milestones for a certification date, which starts the review clock. For more Queens and citywide pipeline items, see New York.
On the record
What we checked ourselves, and where you can check it too.
- Public recordThe ZAP record shows the rezoning application was filed April 24, 2025, and its land-use application milestone began Sept. 23, 2026.View the record on zap.planning.nyc.gov
- Our coverageThe Ditmars site is Queens block 782, lot 1, a different parcel from the block 1640, lot 25 lot in our $72M LaGuardia Associates deed report.Read our earlier story →
Sources
- NYC Department of City Planning, ZAP43-02 Ditmars Boulevard Rezoning, project 2022Q0214
- NYC Department of City Planning, ZAP project dataActions 250273ZMQ and 250274ZRQ, milestone dates