New construction filed since Covid: Schools, storage, affordable housing

By Atticus O’Brien-Pappalardo

There is no doubt the pandemic will leave a lasting impact on the city, nation and world, it’s just unclear what the impact will be. But if new building filings are any indication, there has been a shift in the five boroughs to relatively more schools, storage and affordable housing.

To get a sense of how Covid-19 has already altered the city, PincusCo Media reviewed 135 of the significant new building projects totaling 12.2 million square feet filed since April to see which firms and industries are still forging ahead with construction. For this review, we did not look at all the filings, just those that we included in our weekly analysis.

The top filers were the city’s School Construction Authority as well as storage and affordable housing developers.

The City’s School Construction Authority was behind nine new building developments that PincusCo has reported on, the most of any developer over the last five months.

The largest called for construction of an 86-foot tall, six-story, 307,904-square-foot at 53-16 Northern Boulevard in Queens.

The NYC SCA was highly active in April and May, filing numerous renovation plans over the period as well. The period coincided with New York Governor Cuomo’s ban on all “non-essential” construction, as a way to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The only construction projects that were allowed to continue were those deemed essential, such as hospitals, transit, affordable housing, homeless shelters, and most notably, schools.

The nine building plans called for over 870,000-square-feet of new construction, which was also the most of any developer over the last five months.

Safe N Lock Storage was responsible for the second most developments over that period, filing plans for a total of four new buildings.

The largest plans called for the construction of an 89-foot tall, seven-story, 110,411-square-foot storage building at 581 Austin Place in Morrisania. SNL Storage signed a contract to buy the property from John Livingston’s Paladino Realty in January.

In total, the four building plans called for 333,928-square-feet of new construction, which was the eighth most.

BFC Partners and Phipps Houses tied for the third most new building plans filed since April with three each.

BFC Partner’s largest plans came on May 5, when the development firm filed a permit application for construction of a 123-foot tall, 12-story, 274-unit, 207,614-square-foot residential building at 475 Bay Street in Stapleton, Staten Island. BFC had originally been renting the property prior to purchasing it for $3,450,000 on December 19, 2016.

In total, the three developments amounted to 564,636-square-feet of new construction plans, the fourth most over the timeframe.

Phipps Houses’ three plans were all pre-filed on the same day, for new developments in Far Rockaway. The largest plans called for construction of a 354-unit, 409,662-square-foot, 123-foot tall, 12-story, mixed-use building at 17-21 Redfern Avenue. The trio of developments will bring 633,931-square-feet of new construction to the neighborhood, the second most behind only the SCA.

The borough with the most new developments was Brooklyn, where 39 plans were filed. Queens followed just behind with 36 plans filed, while the Bronx had 32 and Manhattan had 23. Staten Island brought up the rear with only four.

Greenland USA was behind the single largest development in the five month window. The plans, pre-filed on May 5, called for the construction of a 397-foot tall, 41-story, 682-unit, 584,686-square-foot residential building at 698 Atlantic Avenue in Prospect Heights.

Other significant filings included Rockrose’s plans, pre-filed on April 20, for a 490-foot tall, 47-story, 418,092-square-foot residential building with 609-units at 98 Dekalb Avenue in Fort Greene, and BRP Companies’ joint venture with Wharton Properties for a 614-unit, 492,987-square-foot, two-tower, mixed-use building at 166-20 90th Avenue in Jamaica.

There were 16 different neighborhoods that had three or more developments planned over the period. Astoria led the way with eight plans, followed closely by Morrisania with seven. Seven neighborhoods, along with Staten Island, tied for the third most with four plans filed.