Chris Xu Files Plans for 630-Unit Complex in Rego Park

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It’s been a quiet two years for a Rego Park site Chris Xu acquired from Vornado, but he’s ready to move forward with another big project for the Queens neighborhood.

The United Construction & Development president filed plans with the Department of Buildings for a 630-unit project at 61-06 Junction Boulevard, Crain’s reported. The site has an alternate address of 93-30 93rd Street, a vacant 139,000-square-foot lot tucked between Horace Harding Expressway and 62nd Drive.

The permits call for adjacent 22- and 28-story buildings with a connecting lobby; it’s unclear if the units will be rentals or condos. The 660,000-square-foot development would include 70,000 square feet of commercial space — including two basement retail spaces — and 114,000 square feet for a community facility on the first floor.

There would also be 297 parking spaces in the cellar and another 235 on the first floor. Residential amenities include a pool on the second floor.

Xu did not respond to the outlet’s request for comment.

United bought the site from Steve Roth’s Vornado Realty Trust in 2023 for $71.1 million, a 16 percent discount on the $85 million the real estate investment trust initially sought for the property. Shortly after the acquisition, the developer released renderings for a three-building mixed-use complex at the site, planning for 706 units at the time.

Xu’s firm is best known for developing the 67-story, 802-unit Skyline Tower in Long Island City, the tallest completed building in the borough (set to be surpassed by BLDG Management’s The Orchard in the coming years). More than 90 percent of the units at the property, completed in 2022, have sold.

United began offering complimentary Porsches to prospective buyers to move the building’s unsold penthouse units.

Other prominent projects for Corona-based United include The Cube at 24-01 43rd Avenue in Long Island City and Whitestone Manor at 137-08 31st Road in Flushing.

— Holden Walter-Warner