A look at Queens Plaza Park, soon to be the tallest NYC building outside Manhattan

Property Markets Group and the Hakim Organization are planning the city’s tallest skyscraper outside Manhattan, and new renderings offer a closer look at the 914-foot-tall building, dubbed Queens Plaza Park.

The 800-unit, 900,000-square-foot residential tower is slated to soar more than 70 stories in Long Island City, where it will encircle and incorporate the 88-year-old Manhattan Bank Building – which PMG and Hakim acquired for $31 million in November.

The 17,000-square-foot project site, positioned near transit-accessible Queens Plaza, was previously planned to house a 16-story Starwood Aloft Hotel, according to 6sqft. But the hotel’s developers went bankrupt during the economic downturn and developer Steve Cheung purchased the property for $8.3 million in 2011.

Rendering of Queens Plaza Park in Long Island City (credit: SLCE Architects)

Rendering of Queens Plaza Park in Long Island City (credit: SLCE Architects)

Cheung then proposed a 30-story, 205,000-square-foot condo tower on the site before opting to sell it to PMG and Hakim for $46.3 million – almost six times his original investment. The developers proceeded to amass 478,000 square feet of development rights through a $56 million transfer deal with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The SLCE Architects-designed Queens Plaza Park, slated for completion in 2019, is one of nearly a dozen skyscrapers taller than 500 feet planned for Long Island City. At least two of those projects look to surpass the 658-foot-tall One Court Square, currently the city’s tallest building outside Manhattan. [6sqft] – Rey Mashayekhi