[NYguy]

https://nypost.com/2026/05/26/real-estat...yscraper-in-queens-just-got-cut-in-half/

Here’s why an ambitious skyscraper in Queens just got cut in half





By Mary K. Jacob
May 26, 2026

For years, developers pitched it as the project that would finally drag Central Queens into the skyscraper era. Now it barely rises above the surrounding rooftops.

A controversial proposal for two soaring residential towers in Kew Gardens Hills has been dramatically scaled back after years of neighborhood backlash, ballooning construction costs and growing pressure surrounding the project’s financing structure.

Marx Development Center’s planned development at 71-12 Park Ave., known as Utopia Living, was originally envisioned as a pair of towers reaching 50 and 42 stories tall. Early plans called for roughly 1.28 million square feet, 850 apartments, luxury-style amenities, landscaped plazas, executive office space and private shuttle service to nearby subway stations.

The latest redesign unveiled this month looks nothing like the original pitch.

Instead of skyline-defining towers, the project has been reduced to a single 13-story residential building totaling roughly 784,000 square feet with about 800 rental units.

The apartment count barely changed, but the ambition did.

The downsizing underscores the brutal financial reality now reshaping major development projects across New York City, where developers are increasingly abandoning glass supertowers in favor of cheaper, lower-rise construction that is faster and less risky to build.

High-rise towers require deeper foundations, more complex structural systems, larger elevator cores, sophisticated fire suppression systems and significantly more steel and concrete than mid-rise buildings. Research from the Brookings Institution has found that high-rise concrete construction can cost substantially more per square foot than mid-rise structures.

To many locals, the towers appeared to materialize without meaningful input.

“This absolutely went under the radar with no input from the community board or the community,” Idels said. “No one discussed it with anybody, and that’s not right. How do you build a skyscraper and not get the community input?”

The proposed towers would have risen roughly 572 feet between Parsons Boulevard and Park Avenue, towering above nearby two- and three-story buildings and directly adjacent to an assisted living facility, office buildings and the NYPD’s 107th Precinct.