NYC’s plan to rezone Jamaica calls for 12,000 new homes
Jamaica Avenue and 165th Street. All images courtesy of DCP
New York City is moving forward with a new rezoning initiative that could bring more than 12,000 new homes to downtown Jamaica, Queens. On Thursday, the Department of City Planning will start the approval process for the plan, which looks to rezone about 300 blocks in the neighborhood to allow for thousands of new homes, including 4,000 units that would be income-restricted. If approved, the rezoning would create the city’s largest Mandatory Inclusionary Housing area and add two million square feet of commercial space, according to the Queens Eagle.
Today, the 300-block area has one- and two-family homes, multi-family residential buildings, commercial, industrial, and community spaces like schools, city and state agency offices, and faith-based organizations. The surrounding areas are primarily occupied by low-rise buildings and one-to-two-family homes.
According to the DCP, the existing zoning does not require affordable housing, limits space for industrial growth, and restricts Jamaica’s potential to thrive as a vibrant place to live, work, and play.
Between 2010 and 2020, the neighborhood’s population grew by 13.4 percent, higher than the rest of the city, which grew by 1.4 percent. Meanwhile, the vacancy rate in Queens sits at 0.88 percent, housing production has increased by only 10 percent, and 57 percent of Jamaica households are rent-burdened.
“Jamaica has been one of the most bustling commercial and transit hubs in the city, but our own outdated zoning and lack of housing and investments have held it back,” DCP Commissioner Dan Garodnick told the Queens Eagle.
“In a city like New York, to have a neighborhood that is geographically central to everything, and 20 minutes from an airport, Downtown Brooklyn and Downtown Manhattan, it should be thriving with lots of job and housing opportunities around it. That is what we hope to deliver here.”
The rezoning plan would lift existing restrictions across the neighborhood, dividing it into five sub-areas: the North Core, Downtown Core, South Core, Southern Corridors, and Industrial Areas.
The North Core, which spans from Hillside Avenue to Jamaica Avenue, currently lacks housing despite being near multiple train lines. Under the proposed rezoning, this area would be opened up for new housing development, as reported by Queens Eagle.
The Downtown Core, which runs from Jamaica Avenue to Archer Avenue, would be rezoned to allow for buildings as tall as 18 stories and encourage mixed-use development.
The Southern Corridors, which include major roads like Sutphin Boulevard, Guy R. Brewer Boulevard, and Merrick Boulevard, would be rezoned to allow buildings as tall as 11 stories, up from the current eight-story limit.
The South Core, which includes the area south of Jamaica Center as well as the Archer Avenue bus terminal, would be rezoned to permit 15-story buildings.
Finally, the Industrial Areas in the eastern part of the study area would be rezoned to support and preserve the neighborhood’s existing industrial businesses, largely retaining its industrial character.
The rezoning also includes “regulations” that will foster streetscape improvements, open space, and mixed-use areas.
Now certified, the plan will enter the seven-month Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. It will require support from local councilmembers Nantasha Williams and James Gennaro, as well as City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, all of whose districts will be impacted by the rezoning, as reported by The Real Deal.
The Jamaica rezoning joins several other rezonings initiated by the Adams administration in recent years. In August, the City Council approved the Bronx Metro-North Station Area Plan, which will rezone 46 blocks around four new Metro-North stations planned for Co-op City, Hunts Point, Morris Park, and Parkchester/Van Nest. The plan is poised to bring thousands of new homes, jobs, and public realm investments to the borough.
In January, the public review process began for the Midtown South Mixed-Use plan, which proposes rezoning 42 blocks of the neighborhood to allow the construction of roughly 9,700 new homes in areas where housing has been prohibited by outdated zoning regulations.
And on Wednesday, the City Planning Commission approved the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan, a rezoning initiative that could bring 4,600 new homes—1,440 of which would be permanently affordable—along with 2,800 permanent jobs and public realm upgrades to a 21-block stretch of Atlantic Avenue.
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