City Council gives final OK to Astoria Cove project

Alma Realty agrees to full union labor and 27% affordable component

Melissa Mark-Viverito and a rendering of Astoria Cove (Credit: Studio V Architects)
Melissa Mark-Viverito and a rendering of Astoria Cove (Credit: Studio V Architects)

Alma Realty’s massive Astoria Cove project in Queens has passed the muster of the New York City Council.

The development team agreed to rely entirely on union labor for construction and to allot about 460 – or 27 percent — of the 1,723 apartments for affordable housing, the New York Observer reported. Alma also said it would renovate a nearby park and include a new public school and grocery store on the site.

“Now we have a project that is more in tune, and truly reflective of the needs of the surrounding community,” said Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said prior to the vote. “We have a project that is much more in-tune, and represents community-oriented development. This is the way that we should be going.”

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The Committee on Land Use approved the project earlier this month.

News emerged this week that Steve Valiotis, a principal of Alma, allegedly bribed representatives of a Greek bank to get a $5.7 million loan in 1990, as previously reported. [NYO]Mark Maurer