Sam Chang planning a 324-key LIC hotel

The project will be a block away from a site he bought last year

Sam Chang and 38-39 9th Street
Sam Chang and 38-39 9th Street

Sam Chang is proposing a 324-key hotel at 38-39 9th Street, just a block away from another Long Island City property the hotelier acquired last year.

Chang’s McSam Hotel Group filed permits for a 13-story hotel spanning 111,627 square feet at the site, according to documents filed with the city’s Department of Buildings on Monday.

If approved, the structure would be 129 feet tall.

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The developer bought the 9th Street parcel, between 38th and 40th avenues, for $1.3 million in 2003, property records indicate. A one-story industrial building currently occupies the site. Demolition permits have yet to be filed.

The planned hotel is near 38-04 11th Street, where Chang is constructing a 142-key, 43,458-square-foot hotel. The $7.8 million acquisition of the site in December marked Chang’s return to the Long Island City hotel market. He previously owned and sold properties in the area, including the Comfort Inn at 42-24 Crescent Street.

The expansion of Chang’s hotel portfolio in Long Island City coincides with the neighborhood’s ascension as the most popular hospitality destination in the outer boroughs. The largest hotel planned for the area is the Toyoko Inn at 24-09 Jackson Avenue, which will have 1,260 hotel rooms.

The proposed development continues the collaboration between Chang and architect Gene Kaufman. The pair’s current projects include a 45-story tower at 142 West 24th Street and a 12-story hotel at 111 East 24th Street.