Blackstone picks up LIC warehouses for $37.5M

Site has the potential for redevelopment

Blackstone's Kathleen McCarthy and Ken Caplan with 31-30 Hunters Point Avenue in Long Island City (Blackstone, Google Maps)
Blackstone's Kathleen McCarthy and Ken Caplan with 31-30 Hunters Point Avenue in Long Island City (Blackstone, Google Maps)

The Blackstone Group picked up a trio of warehouses in Long Island City for $37.5 million.

The investment giant bought the property at 31-30 Hunters Point Avenue from the Deutsch family that owns the lighting business operating out of the building, according to the brokers on the deal. The deal included two adjacent warehouses at 31-35 Borden Avenue and 49-33 31st place, for a total of 108,000 square feet.

Blackstone, whose real estate division is headed by Kathleen McCarthy and Ken Caplan, is better known for billion-dollar warehouse and logistics companies than for one-off deals. But Venture Capital Properties’ Yehuda Goltche, who brokered the deal with his colleague Itan Rahmani, said the property’s location and its future development potential was the “driving force behind the purchase.”

The building is leased up, providing cash flow for about seven more years, after which it could be redeveloped.

Representatives for Blackstone and the Deutsch family declined to comment.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

The area of Long Island City where the warehouse sits has been attractive for logistics investors.

Just a few blocks away, Andrew Chung’s Innovo Group, one of New York’s biggest warehouse players, is planning to build a massive vertical warehouse.

Blackstone in 2019 bought a collection of warehouses near John F. Kennedy Airport for $129 million in its acquisition of a national logistics portfolio from Boston-based investor TA Realty.

Blackstone also bought a warehouse near LaGuardia Airport that year for $55.5 million.