March 8, 2017 By Christian Murray
A local real estate firm is looking to bulldoze a strip of stores in Astoria to put up a new mixed-use development with more than 40 new apartments, according to Building Department records.
Real estate firm Rockfarmer Properties filed plans yesterday to build a new six-story, 42 unit building with retail on the first floor at 21-21 31st Street.
The development will take the place of several stores on the block that have shut down to make way for the construction, including a small discount store, Wave Thai restaurant, which closed down last month after 11 years in business, Havana Express café, which shut down in January after about five years in business, and ABC Super Stores, which shut down in December.
The development will likely run from the library to partway through the space occupied by ABC Super Stores, said developer John Petras.
The new building would have 12,343 square feet of retail space on the first floor, according to the plans, as well as a mailroom and reading room for residents.
The second through sixth floors would have a total of 46,632 square feet of residential space making up 42 residential apartments, meaning each apartment would average 1,110 square feet in size. Petras said that he expects it to be a condo building, but that plans could change as the development progresses.
The building would also have a 1,500 square foot private outdoor patio on the first floor and a 4,000 square foot roof deck reserved for tenants, and there would be an exercise room, a music room, bike storage, a dog wash, and 62 indoor parking spaces in the basement levels.
Though the plans were filed yesterday, the firm does not expect to begin construction until mid-2018, with slated completion in mid-2020, Petras said.
The firm bought ABC Superstores in December for $8.5 million and bought the other storefronts last September for $5 million.
Rockfarmer currently owns just over 30 residential and commercial properties throughout the city, including about 14 in Astoria.
