Brooklyn-Based Developer Plans 124-Unit Residential Tower in Astoria

A Brooklyn-based developer is eyeing a residential project on the former site of an ice cream shop in Queens.

Samuel Teitelbaum, who operates several developments in Brooklyn, has filed plans for a new nine-story, roughly 94,000-square-foot apartment building at 30-11 12th Street in Astoria, according to a filing last week with the New York City Department of Buildings.

The tower would house 124 residential units, at least some of which would be set aside for low-income housing, and a 31-foot rear yard, the filing said.

A spokesperson for Nikolai Katz Architect, the architect on the project, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while Teitelbaum could not be reached for comment.

The lot between 30th Road and 30th Avenue two blocks from the East River waterfront was previously the site of a three-story building that hosted ice cream company Horstmann Mix & Cream, which closed when the building was demolished in 2018, according to Crain’s New York Business, which first reported the news.

In 2022, a developer, using the entity 30-11 12th Street Realty, filed plans to rezone the now-vacant land for an eight-story, mixed-use building with 86 apartments — including 26 affordable units — and ground-floor retail space, according to a filing with the city’s Department of City Planning at the time.

It’s unclear whether Teitelbaum’s project is related to the 2022 plans, but Crain’s reported the 2022 rezoning was approved in April of last year.

The project isn’t the only new development going up in Astoria.

A joint venture between KS Group and Alma Realty secured $300 million in financing in March to begin construction on Astoria Cove, which is set to deliver more than 1,700 units of new housing to the neighborhood, as Commercial Observer previously reported.

And in November 2022, the New York City Council approved a rezoning for a $2 billion development known as Innovation QNS, which is set to bring 3,200 apartments, retail space, and public open space to Astoria, CO reported.

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