WXY Designs a ‘Public Beach House’ for The Rockaways

WXY Architecture + Urban Design has completed a new public “beach house” as part of the first phase of Arverne East, an ambitious net-zero community rising in the Edgemere section of the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. Designed as a multi-purpose community hub and nature center, the low-profile structure anchors a larger 116-acre, multi-phase redevelopment led by NYC’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). The overall Arverne East project is expected to deliver 1,650 units of housing—80% of which will be reserved for formerly homeless and low-to-middle-income residents—by 2031, along with a 35-acre nature preserve and other public amenities.

The newly finished welcome center is strategically sited along Rockaway Freeway between Beach 56th Place and Beach 32nd Street and serves as an official entry point for both residents and beachgoers. The building features public bathrooms, educational programming areas, and direct connections to the adjacent nature preserve designed by Starr Whitehouse. Its thoughtful placement and design are intended to serve both the everyday needs of Edgemere locals and the growing population of seasonal visitors who flock to the Rockaways each summer. The center’s modest scale belies its essential function as a public gateway and an anchor for future development in a historically underserved neighborhood.

Arverne East’s development carries particular social and environmental significance, following extensive damage suffered during Superstorm Sandy in 2012. While parts of the Rockaways have since experienced robust investment, Edgemere’s recovery has lagged—until now. With deep community involvement and long-term engagement by WXY, the project restores coastal ecosystems, delivers affordable housing, and fulfills a decades-old urban renewal promise to this primarily Black and working-class community. The nature center's completion marks a milestone in rebalancing investment across the peninsula and showcases WXY’s adaptive and community-rooted design approach.