Developers in Astoria have stars in their eyes.
Queens-based Mega Contracting Group and Manhattan-based Ettinger Engineering Associates are collaborating on a project at the Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens that will house the borough’s first planetarium. It is expected to serve up to 10,000 children annually.
The state is providing $1 million for the project, at 21-12 30th Road. It will include 229 affordable apartments, some set aside for foster youth aging out of the system.
The updated clubhouse will also get a 1,000-seat basketball arena, swimming pool, 1,000-square-foot laboratory and research facility and 175-seat community theater, among other updates.
The planetarium is expected to open in 2026, giving kids an alternative to schlepping to the Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Natural History. It will be able to seat roughly 70 people.
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Leaders spearheading the project also recently announced the 116,000-square-foot redevelopment would be carbon neutral, according to amNY.
Construction is expected to begin next year, Gothamist reported.
State Sen. Michael Gianaris announced the redevelopment in a press release Friday that failed to mention the developers. The senator led the successful effort in 2018 and 2019 to kill a multi-billion-dollar Amazon campus from being built in Long Island City.
Amy Kaminiski, a program executive at NASA, said at the Boys and Girls Club project’s launch event that it “will be exciting to hear about the next generation of scientists, engineers, and space explorers it may help to cultivate.”