Creedmore Massive Housing Plan Redo In Queens Gets Major Boost from Albany
By JOHN JORDAN – December 18, 2023
ALBANY—The Creedmoor Community Master Plan, a massive mixed-use project to redevelop underutilized land at the 125-acre Creedmoor Psychiatric Center campus in Eastern Queens, received a major boost from Gov. Kathy Hochul who announced the plan.
Earlier this month, plans were unveiled to transform approximately 58 acres of the state-owned Creedmoor campus from surface parking lots, overgrowth and vacant buildings into a community with homes, recreational spaces, greenery and neighborhood retail.
The Creedmoor Community Master Plan proposes approximately 2,800 units of new housing, with more than 55% designated as homeownership. This would represent the area’s single largest new investment in housing since Glen Oaks Village in the 1950s and its largest single expansion in homeownership opportunities since the construction of North Shore Towers in the 1970s. No development cost for the project, as proposed, was released.
The master plan is the result of a six-month collaborative planning process led by Empire State Development and the Queens Borough President’s Office, facilitated with help from the Metropolitan Urban Design Workshop.
“Creedmoor represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for New Yorkers to reimagine state land and plan for the emerging needs of tomorrow,” Gov. Hochul said. “Working together in productive partnership with the community—and thanks to the leadership of Queens Borough President Donovan Richards—we can build more housing, create more jobs, and strengthen Eastern Queens for the next generation.”
The housing component breakdown, according to the master plan, calls for a total of 2,873 units, including 165 earmarked for veterans. The plan calls for 1,633 for-sale units comprised of: 813 elevator co-op units in six-to-eight-story buildings; 536 walk-up co-ops in three to four-story buildings; 186 triplexes in three-story buildings; and 98 semi-attached two-family units in two-story buildings.
The plan, if approved, would feature 1,240 rental units, comprised of 377 senior apartments in six-to-eight-story buildings; 431 supportive units in six-to-eight-story buildings and 432 affordable lottery units, also in six-to-eight-story buildings.