Investor plans to convert LaGuardia hotel parking lot to 535 apartments

Pasadena-based hospitality investor ASAP Holdings is moving forward with plans to turn a hotel parking lot in Queens into more than 450,000 square feet of new residential property. 

ASAP plans to replace the 410 parking spaces at the New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott with a mixed-use building containing 437 apartments and a separate structure with 98 affordable residences for seniors, according to a rezoning application submitted Thursday to the Department of City Planning. 

The larger building would span 375,000 square feet and consist of 12- and 13-story towers above a single-story commercial podium, while the senior housing building would span nearly 83,000 square feet and stand 11 stories tall. Currently, the site is restricted to being used as a hotel and parking lot — a rule that ASAP now seeks to change. 

Last May, ASAP was reportedly looking to sell 102-05 Ditmars Boulevard, which includes the 443-key Marriott hotel and its adjacent development site, purchased from Rubicon Companies in 2021 for $100 million. The sale notice described the property’s neighborhood of East Elmhurst, which is largely zoned for single family housing, as “starved for a new-construction work-force residential development.”

Parking lots have long been a target of Yimby housing advocates, who say land is better used to house people than their empty automobiles, and ASAP’s plans come as New York City considers lifting parking requirements for new residential developments.

The new developments won’t eschew cars, however. Beneath the proposed apartment buildings, a shared parking garage would connect the properties and service the hotel and apartment buildings with 750 parking spaces, according to ASAP’s website.

ASAP and Marriott International did not immediately return a request for comment.

Since 2016, LaGuardia Airport has undergone an $8 billion redevelopment project which added six new concourses and 72 new gates, along with new shopping and dining areas. 

Last year, a vacant Marriott hotel at 90-10 Ditmars Boulevard, less than a mile from the New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott, sold for $53 million. After cratering in the wake of the pandemic, hospitality businesses have emerged with a renewed vitality. 

By mid-summer, operating profits at New York City hotels were eight percent higher than in 2019, while occupancy remained seven percent lower than before the pandemic, according to the Wall Street Journal. But supply continues to be limited, between migrant housing demands and a crackdown on Airbnb. 

Read more

Los Angeles

Homecoming for Munger with oceanfront mansion in Montecito

New York

The Daily Dirt: A tale of two office buildings