Staten Island’s increasingly crowded North Shore could get as many as 2,557 new apartments, and 600,000 square feet of commercial space as part of a new rezoning proposal under consideration by the city, YIMBY reports. The rezoning focuses on a 14-block stretch along Bay Street between Victory Boulevard and Sands Street, and could see the construction of residential towers of various sizes, including some 16-story towers on the northern end of the corridor.
The Department of City Planning presented the initiative at a community meeting last Wednesday, and most locals were skeptical about the size of the project and what it would mean for the surrounding neighborhoods. They insisted that infrastructural improvements like more parking spots, schools, and hospitals had to be addressed before the borough could accommodate close to 7,000 new residents.
Under the new Mandatory Inclusionary Housing policy, several of the buildings will have to include affordable housing, and the local City Councilwoman said she would negotiate a wide range of affordability for the units, according to YIMBY.
Most of the buildings along the corridor would be between three and eight stories tall. A few would rise to a maximum height of 125-feet, and some 16-story buildings have been suggested for a former industrial plot on the northern end of the corridor. Local residents will have until the middle of next month to write to DCP about this proposal.
Other major development along the North Shore includes the massive rental project URBY Staten Island, Empire Outlets, New York Wheel, and Lighthouse Point, a mixed-use project that recently broke ground.