NYC Planning Commission Approves Adams’s Jamaica Housing Plan

New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s plan for new housing in Jamaica, Queens, is heading to a City Council vote in the fall, after the New York City Planning Commission (CPC) gave the green light on Wednesday.

The Jamaica Neighborhood Plan calls for a rezoning across 230 blocks, with the intention to create more than 12,000 new homes in the neighborhood, approximately 4,000 of which would be permanently affordable and income-restricted, according to a Wednesday announcement from Adams and CPC Chair Dan Garodnick.

The project also calls for more than 2 million square feet of commercial and community facility space in Jamaica, which would create 7,000 permanent jobs and “unlock new economic opportunities for residents and businesses,” the announcement said. In addition, the plan would include more than $300 million for local sewer improvements.

“For decades, Jamaica’s zoning has curtailed new housing and limited new businesses,” Adams said in a statement. “It’s made it harder for working-class families to work and stay in the area. But our Jamaica Neighborhood Plan will help change that. … With this ambitious vision, we’ll bring thousands of new homes and jobs to Jamaica and make sure that working-class families can live in the city they love.”

If approved, the project — which would span blocks along Jamaica Avenue and Archer Avenue — would create more public spaces in the neighborhood and two new public plazas next to Jamaica Station, according to the announcement.

“With Jamaica’s central location and incredible access to jobs and transit, it is time for us to support the local community with affordable homes, jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure investments,” Garodnick said in a statement. “With today’s vote, Jamaica is one step closer to a more affordable and prosperous future.”

News of the CPC’s approval of the Jamaica plan comes after Adams announced a new project last week called Fordham Landing South, which would create 927 affordable homes and public waterfront access along the Harlem River in the Bronx, as Commercial Observer previously reported.

It also comes after the city partnered with BFC Partners Development in June to complete Coney Island Phase III, which is set to bring 420 affordable apartments as part of a larger 1,100-home project in Brooklyn’s Coney Island, CO reported.

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