A firm co-owned by actor Robert De Niro has won key community support to open a new $400 million film studio complex in Astoria, Queens.
Community Board 1 gave overwhelming approval for Wildflower Studios LTD to open on 19th Avenue near Luyster Creek as part of the city’s legally required land use review.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards also told The Post he backs the De Niro-influenced studio.
“It’s a job producer. It’s a no-brainer,” Richards said.
The new studio is welcomed following the Amazon debacle two years ago. The e-retail giant withdrew its plan to build a massive new East Coast headquarters in Long Island City following some political and community opposition.
Community Board 1 voted 35 in favor, with only one member opposed while another abstained.
CB1 Executive Director Florence Koulouris said, “It’s local jobs. The more local jobs for the community, the better.”
Wildflower purchased the property at 35-15 19th Avenue from the Steinway Piano company, which will remain next door.
This is the 150th year of Steinway Pianos manufactured on the same lot and the arrival of Wildflower will provide an example of 19th and 20th century musical entertainment sharing space with 21st century entertainment, city sources said.
The seven-story studio complex will total 715,000 square feet and include 11 sound stages, 310 “off-street” parking spaces, and a waterfront esplanade open to the public, according to Wildflower’s environmental impact statement filed with the City Planning Department
The Astoria-Long Island area is home to two other film studios — Silvercup
and Kaufman.
Adam Gordon, managing partner of Wildflower Studios said, “We are thrilled to have earned the support of the community board. In two years Astoria will have a film studio campus creating new long term jobs and growing NYC’s vibrant creative and cultural community “
Gordon said “well over” 1,000 jobs will be created.
According to the plan submitted to the city, Wildflower will conduct outreach to the nearby NYCHA projects — Queensbridge, Astoria Houses, Woodside, and Ravenswood — to create job opportunities for low-income residents.
Wildflower also is working to create exchange programs for high school, trade school and college students in Astoria and greater Western Queens.
The project will also include traffic improvements to prevent cars from running into Luyster Creek.
Partners in Wildflower include Gordon, De Niro, Matt Dicker and Jane Rosenthal — who co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival with actor De Niro after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Wildflower, in a statement on its website, said a cutting edge, digital entertainment studio complex is needed on the East Coast.
“New York’s cultural and artistic depth is a natural fit for the expansive possibilities of digital-era entertainment. However, the city lacks both the permanent, full-scale production facilities built-up over the years in Los Angeles and the sprawling landscape on which to build them,” the firm said.
“Wildflower’s solution: a vertical village for film production. Designed by architect Bjarke Ingels and developed in partnership with lifelong New Yorker Robert De Niro, the multi-level Queens campus will combine the collaborative potential of a Hollywood-style studio with the latest in digital production capability. Wildflower Studios exemplifies Gordon’s approach towards development, evolved over three decades of experience solving real estate puzzles.”