Developer Seeks to Turn Former St. John’s University Building Into Housing

A Brooklyn-based developer is looking to convert a Fresh Meadows, Queens, building formerly used by St. John’s University into a new mixed-use development.

Heights Horace Harding, an LLC tied to Heights Advisors, has submitted an application for a zoning map amendment to build a 330,000-square-foot residential and commercial development at 175-05 Horace Harding Expressway, a site formerly home to the St. John’s University Emergency Medical Services Institute, according to a filing this month with the New York City Department of City Planning.

Plans for the project, which were signed by Heights Advisors’ Dia Onizawa, call for a two-building development with a total of 324 residential units — 81 of which would be permanently affordable, according to the filing.

The development would comprise two buildings. A 12-story property with 228 apartments would hold approximately 14,475 square feet of commercial space and 96 parking spots, while a five-story property would hold 96 apartments with 20,735 square feet of community facility space and 48 parking spots, the filing shows.

Spokespeople for Heights Advisors and St. John’s did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

If zoning changes are approved, the project would sit on a 35,123-square-foot lot previously home to the 42,750-square-foot St. John’s University Emergency Medical Services Institute, according to the filing.

St. John’s, which has owned the Fresh Meadows property since 2007, closed the institute in December — the same year St. John’s shuttered its Staten Island campus, which neighbors worry will turn into a massive housing development. Demolition permits were filed for the Queens building in February, according to an application with the city’s Department of Buildings.

Heights Advisors is the latest housing developer to turn its attention to Queens.

The borough’s roster of developers includes Mega Development Group, which submitted plans in April to build a 310-unit apartment building at 220-28 Jamaica Avenue in Queens Village, as Commercial Observer previously reported.

Plus, Tishman Speyer secured $166 million in construction financing in March to build Edgemere Commons A2, a 244-unit affordable housing property in Far Rockaway, CO reported.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.