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The High End

Apartment Towers for the Astoria Waterfront

The first project in the long-awaited Halletts Point mega development in Queens will finally be available for rent this month.

The first project to open at Halletts Point, on the waterfront in Astoria, Queens, has 404 rentals spread out over two towers that face Manhattan.Credit...The Durst Organization

Halletts Point, the mega development planned on a knobby peninsula in Astoria, Queens, has been years in the making, but apartments in the first building will finally be available for rent beginning this month.

In truth, this 404-unit project, known as 10 Halletts Point, has practically sailed through construction compared with the rest of the $1.5 billion mixed-use development, which eventually will have seven buildings containing 2,020 units, nearly a quarter of them affordable, according to officials with the developer, the Durst Organization.

Sure, there were minor snags with this first member of the Halletts Point family — uneven “soil conditions” from landfill that had to be dealt with and a contractor who had to be replaced.

But the larger development is stalled, once again, after hitting multiple roadblocks since the summer of 2013. That was when the seven-acre site was first presented to Durst by the Lincoln Equities Group, which had assembled the site, according to Alexander Durst, a principal and chief development officer of the company and great-grandson of its founder.

Durst broke ground for 10 Halletts Point in 2016, just in time for the expiration of the 421a program, which had long provided tax breaks to developers building affordable housing. Work on the rest of Halletts Point halted until a replacement program kicked in, and now the larger development — which will include two all-affordable buildings built on the campus of the nearby Astoria Houses, a public housing complex sprawling over several blocks — is waiting for bond financing, Mr. Durst said.

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The two towers at 10 Halletts Point, the first of seven buildings planned for a site in Astoria, Queens.Credit...Brad Dickson for The New York Times

But brokers are eager to show prospective renters around 10 Halletts Point, which has two towers — one 17 stories, the other 22 — built on a base containing common amenities. Most of the project’s 404 units will be studios and one-bedrooms, 81 of them affordable units that were parceled out in a lottery held last spring for applicants who met income requirements.

On a recent tour of the building — an angular form with a copper-colored aluminum skin designed by Dattner Architects — the main selling point was clear: sweeping views of the East River, with the Upper East Side rising on the opposite shore.

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A model apartment at 10 Halletts Point offers expansive water views.Credit...The Durst Organization

A model apartment on the fifth floor offered a glimpse of Gracie Mansion, peeking out from the trees of Carl Schurz Park, and a bird’s-eye view of tiny Mill Rock Island. The Robert F. Kennedy Bridge loomed to the northeast. Roosevelt Island spread to the south. And a big red barge chugged by.

The development gets its name from the peninsula on which it sits. Dotted with low-rise buildings containing metal fabricators and other businesses, the waterfront here retains some of its old gritty industrial feel — at least for now.

Two large common terraces at 10 Halletts Point — with areas for lounging, barbecuing and, yes, taking in that view — are among the 25,000 square feet of amenities the project will offer. A grocery store, Brooklyn Harvest Market, is slated to open in May; the first to open in the area in years, it is sure to benefit neighborhood residents as well as tenants. A waterfront esplanade will be extended, according to Durst.

It’s about a mile from the peninsula to the Astoria Boulevard subway station for the N and W trains, though Halletts Point will run a shuttle to speed the journey. There is also a nearby Citi Bike dock, and the Astoria ferry stop is a five-minute walk away.

The minimalist lobby, designed, like the other interior common areas, by Spacesmith, features white walls, reclaimed white oak millwork and murals by the artist Jason Middlebrook.

But in the end it’s the view that’s the big draw — which is a double-edged sword because the Durst plan calls for two other projects to be built just west of 10 Halletts Point, closer to the water’s edge. The buildings along the shore will be 26 and 32 stories and thus will block west-facing views from many apartments in 10 Halletts Point.

Bye-bye, Gracie Mansion.

The units that are hitting the market this month — studios will start at $1,895, one-bedrooms at $2,525 and two-bedrooms at $3,595 — are on floors three to six. Move-ins will begin in March.

Mr. Durst said construction on the buildings closer to the shore might commence “this fall,” but, given this development’s history, it might not.

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A version of this article appears in print on  , Section RE, Page 10 of the New York edition with the headline: At Last, Apartment Towers for the Astoria Waterfront. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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