The rezoning process for the mixed-use project, which would also add commercial spaces for light manufacturing, shops and day care providers, plus a public school on a different site, could eat up most of 2018, said Jonathan Drescher, a former executive with the Durst Organization, whom Plaxall hired to manage the process.

At the site, near Vernon Boulevard, Plaxall currently controls 13 acres, or about five city blocks, where all the buildings would be razed. The other two acres are owned by a handful of landlords, who are expected to either redevelop their land or sell their property once the rezoning is complete.

Plaxall has proposed 4,995 apartments, as well as 335,000 square feet of manufacturing space, which could be leased to tenants like furniture fabricators, breweries or bakeries.

Tenants, including people who work at those businesses, would live upstairs, according to the plan.

The project is similar to the two-towered complex planned around the corner on city-owned land on 44th Drive that will have 1,000 apartments and 100,000 square feet of light manufacturing space, from a team led by the firm TF Cornerstone; one of its towers would clock in at 650 feet.

But eliminating industrial activities, in a city where manufacturing zones are shrinking quickly, has not always gone over well.