Criterion secures $53M for LIC rental project

The building will rise 12 stories and have 194 units

<em>From left: 2014 rendering of 11-55 49th Avenue in Long Island City and Shibber Khan</em>
From left: 2014 rendering of 11-55 49th Avenue in Long Island City and Shibber Khan

Shibber Khan’s Criterion Group scored a $53 million construction loan to build a 12-story rental property in Long Island City.

New York Community Bank issued the loans for a project planned at 11-55 49th Avenue, property records filed on Friday show. Criterion and development partner Maddd Equities plan to build a 194-unit building on the former parking lot site.

Property records show that Long Island City-based Criterion bought the property in 2014 for $13.5 million. Plans revealed in 2014 called for only 140 apartments, 28 of which were slated to be affordable. The latest plans, which were approved in June 2015, call for 131,342 square feet of residential space and 512 square feet for commercial. The first floor of the building will have some sort of indoor recreational space, but it’s not clear if any space is being set aside for retail as earlier plans had indicated.

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Representatives for Criterion and Jorge Madruga’s Maddd could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.

Criterion filed plans last August for a 569-unit rental building in Astoria, where the developer planned to expand an existing one-story commercial building. In September, Madd filed plans for a community center on the Upper East Side.