LMXD, BedRock Land $250M at Former Innovation QNS Piece
Developers continue to pick up the pieces left behind when Innovation QNS fell apart.
LMXD and BedRock Real Estate Partners secured a $250 million loan from New York Life Investment Management for the acquisition and construction of a project at 35-10 Steinway Street in Astoria, the Commercial Observer reported. The debt helped facilitate the $53 million purchase of the site last week.
A JLL team including Rob Hinckley, Scott Aiese and Jeffrey Julien arranged the financing.
LMXD and BedRock are planning a 560-unit, mixed-income project on the site, which will include unit sizes ranging from studios to three-bedroom apartments. Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners is designing the building with all-electric infrastructure.
Twenty-five percent of the units will be set aside for those earning an average of 60 percent of the area median income, though it’s unclear if the developers are pulling from the former 421a program or updated 485x program; the former would’ve required footings to be in the ground already.
Construction is expected to begin this month and wrap in 2029. The developers are also tasked with finding a retail location for P.C. Richard & Son, which has been located at 35-18 Steinway Street, one of the addresses included in the recent acquisition.
The Innovation QNS site was controversially rezoned by the City Council in November 2022 in service of a $2 billion, five-site, 3,200-unit megaproject. That collapsed when Silverstein Properties exited the scheme, raising the question of how the project-wide commitments made in the original development team’s deal with the City Council could be applied to individual projects on the five development sites.
In November, the Hakimian Organization and CW Realty revealed plans for two to three residential buildings with up to 234 units on part of the former Innovation QNS megaproject site in Astoria. The developers acquired the adjacent sites at 35-17 42nd Street and 42-08 35th Avenue for $15.8 million earlier in the year.
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