Schuman Properties Seeks to Rezone Swath of Astoria

Astoria’s building boom isn’t cooling off and Schuman Properties wants a bigger piece of it.

The Long Island City-based firm filed a rezoning application for a 50,000-square-foot assemblage along Steinway and 38th streets, where it plans to construct a pair of 12- and nine-story buildings totaling roughly 310,000 square feet, Crain’s reported. The rezoning would allow for significantly more density than zoning permits, clearing the way for roughly 270 apartments and a sizable commercial component at 34-14 Steinway Street.

The project would span the block between 34th and 35th avenues and Steinway and 38th streets. Two one-story buildings on the site would be demolished, while a third, occupied by a sports complex, would remain. A supermarket tenant in one of the existing buildings would be relocated within the development.

The residential portion of the project would span 157,000 square feet; between 20 and 30 percent of the units would be set aside as affordable housing. The unspoken for 52,000 square feet of commercial space would include retail and a 27,000-square-foot community facility, likely medical offices. Completion is projected for 2029, if the rezoning is approved.

Land use attorney Frank St. Jacques of Akerman is representing the applicant. St. Jacques and Schuman both did not respond to the publication’s request for comment.

The planned complex would rise steps from Schuman’s 2019 project at 34-01 Steinway Street, a six-story, 55-unit rental building, marking the developer’s second major bet on the same block.

Schuman’s proposal also sits just north of the former Innovation QNS area, where the collapse of the $2 billion, 3,200-unit megaproject left a patchwork of smaller developments moving forward instead. A 560-unit building is underway at 35-18 Steinway Street, and other sites once tied to the scrapped plan are advancing independently.

Schuman’s development reflects a broader growth story reshaping Western Queens. While the borough’s population grew 7.8 percent between 2010 and 2020, western neighborhoods such as Astoria and Long Island City saw a 10 percent jump.

— Holden Walter-Warner