3,000 units of affordable housing proposed for former Flushing Airport, NYC announces

The site of a former airport in Queens will give rise to thousands of affordable housing units in the coming years, officials announced on Monday.

Three thousand rental apartment units have been proposed at the former site of Flushing Airport in College Point, city officials said.

Construction of the project, a joint effort by Cirrus Workforce Housing and LCOR, two Manhattan-based firms, will begin in 2028, according to a news release from New York City Mayor Eric Adams' office.

The development "is projected to generate $3.2 billion in economic activity over the next 30 years," and create 530 permanent careers, the release said.

More than 1,300 union laborers will build multiple towering, mixed-use structures, according to the release.

In addition to construction laborers, officials touted the development as affordable housing for union workers, firefighters and police officers who serve the FDNY and NYPD.

When asked what types of units will be built — studio, one-bedroom or multi-bedroom apartments — Joseph McDonnell, managing partner at Cirrus Workforce Housing, said "unit mixes are expected to be in line with the surrounding market" via a spokesperson in an email to Newsday on Tuesday. 

Rental costs for the forthcoming affordable units are based on area median income for the New York City area as determined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, McDonnell said through the spokesperson.

"Cirrus’ workforce model focuses on the provision of housing for residents who make between 80-120% of area median income as defined by HUD," McDonnell added.

The median income for the New York City area for 2025 ranges from $113,400 for an individual to $213,900 for a family of eight. To qualify for residency in one of the Flushing units, based on 2025 figures, an individual could make between $90,720 and $136,080, while a family of eight could earn between $171,120 and $256,680. 

Flushing Airport was shuttered in 1984 and the "valuable land has sat vacant" ever since, Adams said in a statement. In addition to housing families, the redevelopment of the wetland area will include nature walks, sitting areas, open space and wildlife habitat across 60 acres, the release said.

"At the dawn of modern aviation a century ago, Flushing Airport made history as New York City's first-ever airfield and eventually the busiest airport in the five boroughs," Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. said in a statement. "But today, we're beginning the process of repurposing that incredible piece of Queens' history into a critical aspect of Queens' future."

Opened in 1927 as Speed's Airport by pioneer pilot Anthony "Speed" Hanzlik, Flushing Airport was the busiest airfield in New York City until the late 1930s opening of nearby North Beach Airport, which in 1939 was renamed LaGuardia.

Located in a triangular plot west of the Whitestone Expressway, south of 20th Avenue and east of Linden Place, according to the Metropolitan Airport News it had four clay runways — the longest of which was about 3,000 feet.

In the 1960s, Goodyear kept two blimps at Flushing and longtime airfield historian "Airship" Alan Gross, who died in 2018, wrote that The Beatles are believed to have secretly taken a blimp ride from the field.

Set just north of Citi Field and adjacent to The New York Times distribution plant where Newsday is printed, Flushing Airport was ordered closed by Mayor Ed Koch's administration in 1984.

Aerial footage shows some of the old airport runways are now underwater.

Newsday's John Valenti contributed to this story.