Far Rockaway is a neighborhood that New York City has been promising to transform for decades. Perched on the southern edge of Queens — technically on a barrier island, separated from the rest of the borough by Jamaica Bay — it has long felt geographically and economically isolated. But in 2026, real change is arriving in the form of concrete, steel, and investment dollars. The latest milestone: a $278 million affordable housing development that broke ground in April and is set to become the foundation of a genuinely new chapter for this oceanfront community.
Arverne East Building D: The Largest Piece Yet
Governor Kathy Hochul announced the groundbreaking on April 24, 2026 for Arverne East Building D, the third phase of the larger Arverne East development plan. This $278 million project will create 89 cooperative homeownership units and 229 rental apartments — 318 homes total — on a vacant oceanfront site that was damaged by Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
The cooperative units will be affordable to households earning up to 100 percent of the Area Median Income, offering a genuine path to homeownership in a neighborhood that has historically had very little of it. The rental apartments will be affordable to households earning up to 90 percent of AMI, with 35 units reserved as supportive housing for young adults aging out of the foster care system, with on-site services provided by Camba.
The development is built to Passive House standards, is all-electric and fossil fuel-free, and includes rooftop solar panels. It’s also connected to the Arverne East geothermal loop — a shared ground-source heat pump system that provides heating, cooling, and hot water to the entire development at significantly lower cost and carbon output than conventional systems. All ground-floor residential spaces are raised to the 500-year flood elevation, a direct response to Sandy’s devastation.
What Arverne East Will Look Like When Complete
Building D is the latest in a series of phases that, when fully complete, will transform a vacant 116-acre oceanfront site into a community of 1,650 homes — approximately 80 percent of them affordable. The full build-out will also include 270,000 square feet of commercial space, 76,000 square feet of community facility space, open space, retail, restaurants, and the future Arverne East Aquatic Center.
Phases already complete include a coastal nature preserve, the Coastal Conservation Center, an urban farm operated by local partners, and infrastructure improvements along Edgemere Avenue. Far Rockaway now has what is billed as New York City’s first net-zero community under construction — a meaningful distinction for a neighborhood that bore the brunt of one of the city’s worst recent climate disasters.
Why Far Rockaway, and Why Now
The Rockaways have always had something most of New York City doesn’t: actual ocean beach access within the five boroughs. Jacob Riis Park, Rockaway Beach, and Fort Tilden are all here, and the A train and the Rockaway Park Shuttle connect the peninsula to the rest of the city — though residents will tell you the commute can be long.
What’s changed is the investment. Under Governor Hochul’s $25 billion five-year Housing Plan, New York State Homes and Community Renewal has created or preserved nearly 3,000 homes in Queens. Arverne East is the flagship project in that effort, and Building D — with its homeownership component — is the most community-building piece of it yet.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards has called Arverne East “another massive step forward in fundamentally changing the Rockaway Peninsula for the better,” and the project has broad support from local elected officials who have long pushed for investment in one of the city’s most underserved waterfront communities.
What You Need to Know
- Arverne East Building D broke ground on April 24, 2026 — a $278 million investment bringing 318 homes to Far Rockaway, including 89 co-op homeownership units.
- The project is all-electric, built to Passive House standards, connected to a geothermal loop, and raised above the 500-year flood elevation.
- Supportive housing for 35 young adults aging out of foster care is included, with services from Camba.
- When fully built out, the entire Arverne East campus will have 1,650 homes (80% affordable), commercial space, community facilities, and an aquatic center.
- Far Rockaway is accessible via the A train to Rockaway Park, or the S Rockaway Park Shuttle from Broad Channel.
- For affordable housing lottery information as units come online, check NYC Housing Connect at housingconnect.nyc.gov.
For more Queens neighborhood news, see Queens’ push to become the city’s first low-traffic borough and how Queens teens are fighting food insecurity with a youth-led day of service.
