NYPD parking garage in Jamaica will become affordable housing

An underutilized NYPD parking garage in Jamaica, Queens will soon be transformed into a massive mixed-use development that includes a fully-affordable residential section with 350 apartments.

The project is a collaboration between several city agencies—the Economic Development Corporation, the Housing Development Corporation, and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

Back in February 2015, the trio had put out a request for proposals (RFP) for the site, and eventually the group decided to go with Omni New York LLC, a development firm that has extensive experience in creating affordable housing, having helped build and rehabilitate over 6,000 affordable units across the city.

“The redevelopment of the 168th Street NYPD garage into a thriving mixed-use facility furthers Mayor de Blasio’s Housing New York initiative to create more affordable housing options for New Yorkers,” Maria Torres-Springer, the president of NYCEDC, said in a statement.

The site is located on 168th Street between Jamaica and Archer Avenues, and Omni plans to convert the parking garage into a 450,000 square foot development that, aside from the apartments, will come with a community facility, a ground-floor retail space, and underground parking, part of which will be reserved for the NYPD.

This project marks the first major initiative to take place under the Jamaica NOW Action Plan—a $153 million campaign launched by the Bill de Blasio administration in 2015 to revitalize Jamaica.