When the Durst Organization bought the huge clock tower development site in Long Island City a little more than a year ago, it scrapped the previous developers’ plans to build 250 condominiums on the site, opting instead to go all-in on rentals.
Now, in what will be the shadow of Durst’s 63-story building, another development team is planning to bring condos to the Queensboro Plaza section of the neighborhood.
SB Development Group and Heritage Real Estate Partners are planning to build a 100,000-square-foot condo building on a triangular corner-lot at 41-05 29th Street, the developers told The Real Deal.
“It took some time to assemble the various parcels and development rights necessary to build something substantial,” SB Development co-founder Joseph Stern said. “The irregular triangular shaped lot has its challenges but the opportunity to build something different and unique for the neighborhood is what we envisioned with our architect.”
Stern said the partners were still deciding on the number of units.
SB Development closed in late November on the land and air-rights assemblage for $15.5 million with Heritage Real Estate Partners, which is run by Jeremy Markowitz.
This is the first time the two firms have partnered with each other. The building will be designed by Fogarty Finger, the architecture firm behind Charney Construction & Development’s “the Jackson” condo building in the Hunters Point area of the neighborhood at 13-33 Jackson Avenue.
Fogarty also designed Charney and Tavros Capital Partners’ mixed-use tower at the site of the former Dime Savings Bank in Brooklyn, as well as L+M Development Partners’ 1 Park Row tower near City Hall.
Most of Long Island City’s limited condo supply is concentrated along the waterfront, while apartments near Queensboro Plaza tend to lean toward rental. But the condo market is growing.
Developer Yan Zhu is planning to bring 44 condo units at 27-05 41st Avenue with a projected sellout of $39.4 million, one of the most valuable condo filings accepted in Queens last year.