Astoria, Real Estate
Feb 12, 2018

Neptune Diner Location is For Sale

Bye bye, Neptune.

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Photo credit: KS on Yelp

I noticed this past weekend that the Queens Gazette posted that the Neptune Diner (31-05 31st Street) is for sale. We’ve heard rumors about this for many years, and as Astoria has continued to grow and change, it seems that it was just a matter of time before this valuable piece of real estate would change hands.

The sales agent is Eastern Consolidated, a full service commercial real estate company that was founded in 1981, and has brokered a lot of multi-million dollar deals, mostly in NYC (you can see a nicely laid out summary of some of the significant ones, here). But regardless of who is marketing this property, Neptune Diner’s leases expires on August 31, 2019 without the option to extend it.

Here’s the bulk of the listing:

Astoria Corner ±100′ x ±90′ Development Site
Up to ±41,760 BSF

As exclusive marketing and sales agent, Eastern Consolidated is pleased to present 31-05 31st Street aka 31-01 Astoria Boulevard North in Astoria, Queens (the “Property” or “Site”). The Property, which is well-located corner future development site with three sides of legal light and air and a maximum ZFA of ±41,760 square feet. The Site is currently improved with a standalone diner with on-site parking and will be sold subject to the existing diner lease, which expires August 31, 2019 with no further extension options.

The Property consists of a corner ±100’ x ±90’ (irregular) development site measuring ±8,700 square feet of land area in Astoria, Queens. The Site is located on corner of Astoria Boulevard North, which runs adjacent to I-278 Brooklyn-Queens Expressway/ Robert F. Kennedy (Tri-borough Bridge), 31st Street and 24th Road. The site is situated adjacent to, and directly accessible from the Astoria Boulevard N, W subway station.

31-05 31st Street lies within a C4-3 zoning district (with a small portion of the lot also falling within an R5B district), which permits a range of as-of-right uses including residential, commercial and community facility uses.

While it has its detractors, Neptune Diner is much beloved in Astoria. It’s a sort of local landmark and its future absence and replacement will no doubt be a glaring example of the way Astoria has become one of the darlings of the NYC real estate developer world.

We do wonder what will end up being built at this location. Our money is on a mixed-use development. Here’s hoping they use space-age noise reducing glass and airplane insulation in building any residences.

We’d love to hear what you think about this turn of events with regard to Neptune Diner—leave us a comment with your thoughts, analysis, criticism and rants.

About Meg Cotner

Meg Cotner was trained as a harpsichordist and now works as a freelance writer and editor. She is the author of "Food Lovers' Guide to Queens," and is a skilled and avid home cook, baker, and preserver.

4 Comments

Alexis "Hellas Andras!" Tsipras

Neptune Diner is most definitely an unofficial landmark of Astoria, but let’s just say for a moment that the place changed ownership and kept its name, instead of closing due to ending lease and/or owner retirement. What then? I bet the longstanding business surely would head downhill fast! In this case, the big change results from the mere passage of time and not gentrification, since a good many young people ate at this establishment beside longtime locals. So while the closure of Neptune Diner represents for many the end of an era, I will say as a born Astorian myself that positive changes in the borough were long due coming since far back as October of ’87! I hope that whatever comes next for this location will be consistent with the times and nothing like the frumpy shlumpy dumpy stores and whatnot lining the entire Steinway Street.

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MIKE ACOSTA

….growing up in Astoria, in the mid-late 60s, EVEN BEFORE THE GREEKS, we’d go to Neptune’s after an afternoon in Astoria Pool/Park, and order my favorite: Cheeseburger Deluxe w/ coleslaw & fries, sometimes onion rings… YUM!
…..other times, since we used to live across PS 85, right under the El, my li’l brother & me would stop by Neptune’s after delivering groceries for Scaturro’s, practically next door, and split a burger n fries….

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George

Neptune is a landmark for Astoria and the Greeks. Glory days in the 90’s. A burger after a great night at Loft across.

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