Beach Green Dunes is a new construction in the Edgemere section of Queens, an increasingly expensive rental market. It is part of the larger comprehensive Arverne Urban Renewal Area. The Arverne East Redevelopment Area consists of approximately 47 acres of City-owned oceanfront property within the 308-acre Arverne Urban Renewal Area. Both the Edgemere and Arverne neighborhoods have seen recent large-scale redevelopment of vacant land, and rehabilitation of vacant buildings and those damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

Edgemere is a primarily residential neighborhood that is home to very low and low-income households as well as more moderate-income households. Residential homes include a mix of low and mid-rise rental housing, including subsidized and public housing developments, as well as small homes owned by moderate and middle-income households. Beach Green Dunes bridges the two distinct socioeconomic communities of Edgemere in one truly mixed-income development that serves very low, low, and moderate-income households.

The building includes 101 rental apartments with a mix of studios, one, two, and three-bedroom units. The development includes a range of amenities including terraces and green roof spaces, onsite laundry facilities, recreational space, and bike storage. The project site was upzoned by the NYC Department of City Planning in 2008 to allow for greater density.

Various features have been incorporated into the building to achieve low energy and water consumption levels including the use of insulated concrete forms, a large rooftop solar photovoltaic system for renewable on-site electricity production, and a natural gas fired cogeneration system that will produce electricity, all of the building’s hot water needs, and will serve as a back-up emergency generator to supply power to the building in the event of a power outage. Unique use of bio-swales, hydric habitat plantings, and pervious asphalt paving not only help to achieve full storm water retention on site, but also help serve the surrounding area by not adding to flows in the central sanitary/storm systems. As a result, the building is one of the largest multi-family buildings in the country to be certified by Passive House Institute of America. It has also received an Energy Star rating from NYSERDA and Enterprise Green Communities Certification.

Location: Queens, NY
Developer & Owner: The Bluestone Organization and Triangle Equities