A not-for-profit in Queens is getting a major expansion that will have local children reaching for the stars.

The Variety Boys and Girls Club serves 4,000 kids a year in Astoria, including free after school programming.

The not-for-profit has operated out of this building since 1955, but it’s seen better days.

Since 2015, repairs have cost upwards of $300,000. But it’s set to get a $1 million overhaul — including a 1,000 seat basketball arena, an Olympic sized swimming pool, a planetarium and a tech center for robotics.

“They’re going to be able to shoot for the moon here, and this will be the first planetarium in the borough of Queens. We look at this and say we want them to be the future scientists of the 21st century,” Costa Constantinides, the CEO of the Variety Boys and Girls Club, said.

The new facilities include STEM training, that’s science, technology, engineering and math.  

A future STEM career is something nine-year-old Sabine Friedheim is aiming for.

“I want to be like an engineer when I grow up,” Friedheim said.

For now, Friedham and her friends are looking forward to the near future.

“I’ve been going to Stem Club for like, ever since I first came here. And now that I’m hearing that we’re going to have this new planetarium and everything, I’m like so excited,” Cameron Anniki, an eight-grade student, said.

“I think that’s pretty cool that we can see the planets,” Santino Picerno, a fifth-grade student, said.

State Senator Michael Gianaris secured the $1 million in the state’s fiscal budget for the upgrades.

Beyond the new 123,000 square-foot clubhouse, 229 units of all affordable housing will be built on top of the center. About 60 units will be set aside for young people aging out of foster care.

The building will also be carbon neutral.

When construction gets underway next year and the Variety Club closes, some of the programming will spread out to other locations.

Officials say a small portion of programming might be cancelled temporarily. But when it reopens, the center will serve 16,000 young people.

“I’m going to miss the old building. But I think it’s going to be fun to look at the planetarium and how [to] look at the stars and learn about planets,” Bilal Ali, a sixth-grade student, said.

Construction is expected to be complete by 2026.