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Shibber Khan’s Criterion shopping large LIC dev site
Developer bought the five parcels with 253K buildable sf last year
Shibber Khan’s Criterion Group is looking to sell a massive, largely vacant Long Island City development site just a year after buying it, sources told The Real Deal.
The Astoria-based development firm was initially planning a long-term hold of the five parcels at 31-08 and 31-16 Northern Boulevard. But, sources said, Criterion received several offers from developers interested in building a large office complex on the site.
The site, which includes several vacant lots and a two-story, 14,500-square-foot taxi garage leased to cab company Wailing Management, offers 253,000 buildable square feet. Decades ago, the structure was known as the Universal Building and housed a Ford dealership.
Sources told TRD the parcels are expected to sell for north of $50 million.
“There is an uptick in demand in Long Island City for office space — from companies looking to relocate and end users that want to purchase their own headquarters space,” said Pinnacle Realty’s [TRDataCustom] David Junik, who is marketing the site along with his colleague Decio Baio.
Junik added the site could benefit from a residential rezoning of the area, as a result of the Long Island City Core Neighborhood Planning Study currently being conducted by the Department of City Planning.
Steven Newman, a local investor tied to Howling Wolf Realty LLC, bought the site in 2004 for $3.6 million. Then, in May 2014, Williamsburg-based investor Joel Gluck, who runs Spencer Equity and Park Management, signed a contract to buy it from Newman. Gluck instead flipped the site to Criterion in a $40 million deal in April 2015, sources said at the time. Criterion paid $28 million to Newman, records show, and the rest to Gluck.
Earlier this summer, Criterion secured $27.5 million in mortgages from Signature Bank and the Malachite Group, records show.
Khan’s plate is currently full with two Queens rental projects: one with 194 apartments at 11-39 49th Avenue in Long Island City and the other with 711 apartments at 30-37 Vernon Boulevard in Astoria.