Nov. 16, 2022 By Michael Dorgan
A massive two-tower residential development on the Long Island City waterfront has opened and officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony there Tuesday.
The new development, called Gotham Point, is a 1,132-unit development spread across two towers located at the southernmost point of Hunters Point South.
Around 75 percent of the apartments – or 847 units – are rent stabilized/affordable, with the remainder being offered at market rate.
The smaller of the two buildings, known as the South Tower, is 34 stories tall and construction was completed in March with tenants moving in the following month. The South Tower contains 443 units, 331 of which are affordable.
The larger building, the North Tower, is 56 stories tall and contains 689 total units — of which 516 units deemed as affordable. Work on the North Tower will finish in the spring although move-ins are set to get underway starting Dec. 1 since much of it is complete.
The two-tower project is being developed by The Gotham Organization and forms part of the 5,000-unit Hunters Point South affordable housing development.
The South Tower is located on Parcel G—between 2nd Street and the Newtown Creek, while the North Tower is on Parcel F—the site located between 56 and 57th Avenues on Center Boulevard.
The ribbon cutting event was attended by Queens Borough President Donovan Richards; Adolfo Carrión, the Commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD); Lauren Connors, the senior vice president of Housing Development Corporation (HDC); and representatives from the Gotham Organization.
Officials with RiseBoro Community Partnership, which provides affordable housing and senior services, were also represented. RiseBoro will oversee an 11-story wing in the North Tower dedicated to senior affordable housing.
David Picket, CEO of Gotham Organization, said the development marks a major milestone in the evolution of the Hunters Point waterfront.
“After many years of thoughtful collaboration with the City and RiseBoro Community Partnership, it is incredible to see our vision of a diverse and inclusive community come to life at Gotham Point,” Picket said.
“This project embodies the future of housing in New York City; it is not just a residential tower but a place where community will thrive and grow.”
Meanwhile, Richards said that the development was an important step in meeting the housing needs of the borough.
“With Queens in the throes of a housing crisis, opening hundreds of units of high-quality affordable housing, including nearly 100 units of housing set aside for low-income seniors, in western Queens is a game-changer,” Richards said.
The two-tower project, designed by Handel Architects, features 24-hour attended lobbies, a rooftop terrace with city views, resident lounges and sundecks, a state-of-the-art indoor and outdoor fitness club, a children’s playroom and a publicly accessible urban rooftop farm and community boathouse.
The South Tower has a 3,000-square-foot space for the Flux Factory, a Dutch-Kills-based arts non-profit. Flux Factory will have an artists-in-residency program to support emerging artists when it moves into the space.
Meanwhile, the North Tower has small-format retail spaces as well as a below-grade public parking garage.
The North Tower’s senior housing wing features its own personal lobby space as well as a lounge and laundry room on each floor. The wing will also include a library, a community room and an outdoor terrace with views of the Manhattan skyline.
The housing lottery for the South Tower closed in January while the deadline for the North Tower ended in September.