FedEx negotiating for 12-acre LIC site

FedEx is nearing a deal to lease a 12-acre site in Long Island City, on which it would build a new, 500,000-square-foot distribution facility to replace its existing one in the Maspeth area of Queens, Crain’s reported. The deal involves two parcels on Borden Avenue, near the Long Island Expressway. The first, which is owned by Richard Zirinsky Associates, contains two buildings, a 185,000-square-foot warehouse at 29-01 Borden Avenue and a 145,000-square-foot building at 2910 Hunters Point Avenue that was once home to the New York Envelope Co. FedEx would either demolish both buildings or connect them into one structure. The second, smaller parcel potentially involved in the deal is located at 28-20 Borden Avenue and is owned by Charlie Zaharia. An 80,000-square-foot building currently sits on the site, which sources close to the deal said FedEx would likely use as a parking lot. The deal, which according to Robert Corroon, COO of Richard Zirinsky Associates, is “not completed, and… very complex,” comes two years after a FedEx plan to lease a 21-acre Con Edison site in Astoria fell through because of community opposition. [Crain’s]