Summer 2017 Queens development activity neighborhood focus: Astoria and Long Island City - by Rubin Isak

It has been a busy summer in the land sales world. In this month’s piece, I will focus on this summer’s development activity in Astoria and Long Island City. The average price per zoning floor area in this area equates to $261/ZFA this summer. Below I will highlight 10 development site sales for June, July and August. (Price per ZFA is calculated using as-of-right s/f only):

• 23-23 30th Rd. in Astoria sold for $3.1 million on June 15th. The lot dimensions are 41.5’ x 150’. The site is situated in a R6B zone with 12,456 ZFA. The sales price equates to $249/ZFA. 

• 31-41 29th St. in Astoria sold for $2.225 million on June 23rd. The lot dimensions are 25’ x 100’; situated in a R6A zone with 7,563 ZFA. The sales price equates to $294/ZFA. 

• 38-23 28th St. in Long Island City sold for $2.825 million on August 9th. The lot dimensions are 50’ x 100’; situated in a M1-2/R5B, LIC zone with 10,042 ZFA. The sales price equates to $281/ZFA. 

• 10-25 48th Ave. in Long Island City sold for $2.969 million on July 24th. The lot dimensions are 50’ x 100’ and is situated in a M1-4/R6B, LIC zone with 10,000 ZFA. The sales price equates to $297/ZFA. 

• 23-83 31st St. in Astoria sold for $5.1 million on July 14th. The lot dimensions are 75’ x 90’ and is situated in a C4-3 Zone with 22,953 ZFA. The sales price equates to $222/ZFA. 

• 2377-79 31st St. in Astoria sold for $3.4 million on June 20th. The lot dimensions are 50’ x 90’; situated on a C4-3 zone with 15,300 ZFA. The sales price equates to $222/ZFA 

• 40-40 24th St. in Long Island City sold for $5 million on June 26th. The lot dimensions are 75’ x 100’ and is situated in a M1-2/R5B, LIC zone with 15,000 ZFA. The sales price equates to $332/ZFA. 

• 37-27 32nd St. in Long Island City sold for $2.9 million on June 12th. The lot dimensions are 50’ x 95’, situated in a M1-2/R6A, LIC zone with 14,316ZFA. The sales price equates to $202/ZFA. 

• 37-12 34th St. in Long Island City sold for $16.5 million on June 7th. The lot dimensions are 100’ x 195’ and is situated in a M1-2/R6A, LIC zone with 58,500 ZFA. The sales price equates to $282/ZFA. 

• 21-05 31st Ave. in Astoria sold for $2.139 million on June 2nd. The lot dimensions are 25’ x 93’ situated in a R7A, C2-3 zone with 9,332ZFA. The sales price equates to $230/ZFA.

New ground-up developments have also been proposed this summer in Astoria and Long Island City. I highlight seven of the most recent ones below:

• 11-02 37th Ave., Long Island City. The Black Car Fund has proposed to build a five-story, 39,969 s/f commercial building for car storage and offices. The property is located on the corner of 11th St. and 37th Ave. NY Black Car Operators’ Injury Comp Fund, Inc., purchased this building, currently a factory situated on a 75’ x 100’ lot, back in 2016 for $8.1 million, which equates to $202/ZFA.

• 26-26 18th St., Astoria – P & R Cp, LLC based out of Whitestone, has proposed to build a four-story, seven-family walk-up apartment building containing 4,981 s/f. The developer purchased this 25’ x 100’ lot in January of this year for $995,000 or $199.75/ZFA.

• 4017-4025 28th Ave., Astoria – The developer, based out of Malba, filed plans to build a three-story, 14,244 s/f (above grade) commercial/community facility building with parking on this corner 75’ x 95’ lot. The property was purchased in December of 2016 for $3 million or $210/ZFA.

• 25-39 41st St., Astoria – The developer, based out of Manhattan, has filed plans to build a four-story, apartment building with community facility. The residential portion will have 7,531 s/f and the community facility portion will contain 1,343 s/f. The property was purchased in 2015 for $1.7 million or $225/ZFA.

• 31-05 21st St., Astoria – Long Island City Hospitality LLC has just proposed to construct an eight-story, 15,463 s/f apartment building containing 23 residential units. The developer purchased the 50’ x 67’ lot in December of 2016 for $2.75 million or $177/ZFA.

Durst Organization’s first project in Queens: “Hallets Point” waterfront development is back on track with the passing of Affordable New York. The project consists of a 2.4 million s/f site with seven buildings containing 2,400 rental apartments. “Building One” is scheduled to open in 2018 and will feature 405 units. 

• Durst’s second project in Queens will be a new development on the former Clock Tower site in Long Island City. The developer filed for plans in June to construct a 710 ft.  high, 63-story residential tower. The property will feature 763 residential units over 786,000 s/f of and 8,700  s/f of retail space. Durst purchased this site for approximately $174 million in December 2016 – that sales price equates to $218/ZFA.

This summer’s activity alone confirms one market fact: Smart money investors continue to pursue development opportunities in the Astoria and Long Island City markets at an aggressive pace. 

Rubin Isak is a senior director in Eastern Consolidated’s investment sales division, New York, N.Y.