Supporters of affordable housing are concerned that Alma Realty’s 2.2 million-square-foot Astoria Cove project will not contain enough rental units below market rates.
Alma Realty has proposed making the affordable housing component roughly 20 percent of its 1,700 apartments at the Queens site. This is up from the 17 percent initially allotted. Some opponents of the project have pushed for as much as 50 percent.
Melinda Katz, Queens Borough president, plans to discuss the issue at a meeting today, where she too will recommend a quantity for affordable units.
“There’s a lot of issues that we’ve been dealing with,” Katz told the Wall Street Journal yesterday. “We don’t want to push folks out of this borough that have built this borough.” [WSJ] — Mark Maurer
