Property Markets Group is planning to construct a 410-unit rental building on two lots in the Hunter’s Point area of Long Island City, the company told The Real Deal today. The developer paid $37 million for a 14,920 square-foot-lot at 23-01 42nd Road and a 27,200 square-foot lot at 23-10 Queens Plaza South from the Kraupner Group late last month, property records show.
PMG partnered with Howard Lorber’s Vector Group and the Hakim Organization to purchase the property. PMG founder Kevin Maloney confirmed that Douglas Elliman, where Lorber is chairman, would market the residential part of the development.
Maloney said the development would be roughly 347,000 square feet. He added that the existing five-story industrial building at 23-10 Queens Plaza South will be taken down and replaced with a loft which would hold 110 units. A 28-story tower with 300 residential units will also be built.
“Because of the tremendous amount of residential interest in the unit, we’re probably going to do retail on the first floor,” he added.
The sale, which closed on Dec. 28, marks at least the fourth lot Kraupner has sold in Long Island City this past month. Previously, the company unloaded a 320,820-square-foot former electrical supply building at 43-22 Queens Street, as The Real Deal reported.
PMG has also been active recently. Last month, the developer picked up a Gowanus warehouse in a $14 million deal.
Though PMG is well-known for its residential portfolio, some had speculated that a commercial development was likely for the site.
“Everyone’s looking there, the Japanese are coming in looking for hotel sites,” said Vincent Tomasino, a vice-president at Port Washington, L.I.-based U.S Industrial Services and a current developer in the area.
Shay Zach, a managing partner at brokerage Itzhaki Properties who is active in the area, said that given the property’s proximity to the Queensboro Bridge, residential condominiums were unlikely. “My gamble is commercial use — hotel or office,” said Zach, who in 2007 sold a nearby 180,000-square-foot site to a Japanese hotel group.
Representatives for Kraupner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.