Queens developer files for 79-story LIC resi tower

Chris Xu bought the site near One Court Square for $143M in July

A rendering of The Planned Court Square City View Tower at 23-15 44th Drive in Long Island City (inset: Chris Xu)
A rendering of The Planned Court Square City View Tower at 23-15 44th Drive in Long Island City (inset: Chris Xu)

Flushing-based developer Chris Jiashu Xu filed plans for a massive 79-story residential tower in Long Island City.

The proposed 778,000-square-foot building, located at 23-15 44th Drive, just north of One Court Square, will contain 774 apartments within 759,000 square feet of residential space, along with about 20,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, according to a permit application filed with the city on Saturday.

The number of apartments per floor will vary widely as they increase in size. There will be 32 units and 24 units on the fifth and sixth floors respectively, 11 units per floor from the eighth to the 60th floor, and even fewer on the higher floors, the application shows. The 76th through 78th floors will have just three apartments apiece.

Goldstein, Hill & West is the architect of record, the filing shows. The property will be called Court Square City View Tower, according to the developer’s website.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Chris, also known as Jaishu, previously worked with his brother George Xu under the name C&G Empire Realty. He now runs United Construction and Development Group, while George operates under the name Century Development Group.

The brothers bought the site together under the C&G moniker back in July, paying $143 million to Citigroup.

The project will break ground in 2017, according to the United Construction’s website.

Chris Xu was unavailable for comment. An outgoing message at United Construction’s office cited the Chinese New Year.