Silvercup Studios Plans $1 Billion Expansion, Q-Plaza Motel Threatened

Silvercup Studios unveiled a plan to build a massive $1 billion studio/housing/office complex on six acres of East River waterfront in Queens:

The six-acre project in Long Island City, which formally began wending its way through the city’s land use review process yesterday, is called Silvercup West, an expansion of Silvercup’s existing operation six blocks to the east, the home studio for television shows like “The Sopranos” and “Hope & Faith” and where many movies have been filmed.

If it is approved, the expansion would include eight soundstages, production and studio support space, offices for media and entertainment companies, stores, 1,000 apartments in high-rise towers, a catering hall and a yet-to-be-named cultural institution. Silvercup would easily be the largest production house on the East Coast, although Steiner Studios in Brooklyn has the largest single soundstage.

“With added studio space, more productions that may have been filmed elsewhere will now take advantage of all the benefits of filming in New York City,” said Stuart Match Suna, who together with his brother Alan formed Silvercup in 1983. “In addition, we are creating a 24/7 live, work and leisure community.”

The Post notes the size of the buildings:

Two residential towers and an office building at Silvercup West will range from 49 to 57 stories.

“These are tall buildings, but they’re located right on the biggest back yard you can have, which is a river,” said Alan Suna, who is building the project with his brother, Stuart Match Suna.

The project will go on six acres just south of the 59th Street Bridge. The site is now home to a 79-megawatt generating station, a city salt pile and the historic Terra Cotta Building, which the developers will restore.

Not sure how many feet that would be, but if it’s taller than the 48-story, 663-some-odd feet Citibank Building, it could become the tallest building on Long Island.

Meanwhile, this is sure to disrupt the activities of that cozy little hidden place to take prostitutes, the whimsically named Q-Plaza Motel which has been under fire for a while now:

State, city and community officials converged on the Q-Plaza Motel in Long Island City on Sunday, January 27 to protest the pimps and prostitutes that frequent the hotel and often do business on surrounding streets. The hotel, located at 42-11 Vernon Blvd., has created an increase in quality of life crimes, according to state Assemblymember Catherine Nolan, who organized the protest/press conference on behalf of her constituents in the Ravenswood and Queensbridge communities. “We are fed up with the growing problem of prostitutes in Long Island City,” Nolan said.

. . .

“When I walk my dogs in the morning I find used condoms,” said Gabriela Granados, who with her husband is opening a dance studio on 9th Street, behind the hotel. “I have the right in the morning to walk my dogs without being stalked by men who are looking for (prostitution) services.”

. . .

Prior to the rally, [Community Board 2 Chairman Joseph] Conley explained that the hotel, which had been closed down in 1998 after repeated efforts by police and the community, was able to reopen under a flaw in zoning. The hotel is situated directly south of the Queensboro Bridge; to the immediate north of the bridge are the Queensbridge and Ravenswood developments and much of the remaining area is industrial.

“It’s an example of poor planning,” Conley said, explaining that the hotel is allowed to exist in that spot because it’s zoned residential when everything around it is industrial. The hotel is an anomaly in the area. “You don’t see a national chain coming here,” Conley said of the site. “You don’t see a brand name here.” The hotel was most recently a cinder block parking garage before being reopened as a hotel.