Winick Realty Group has been named the exclusive marketer of a massive chunk of retail at a rising multi-use development in Long Island City, Queens, The Real Deal has learned. The 150,000 square feet of retail at 30-30 Northern Boulevard are being offered by a Winick team of Steven Baker, Aaron Fishbein and Jeremy Schwartz on behalf of Alma Realty, which bought the plot in 2011 from Edward Minskoff for $21.5 million.
Once a retail tenant is signed, construction at the project will begin, a representative for Winick confirmed.
When complete, the building will hold three floors of retail beneath 200,000 square feet of office space.
“Long Island City has … 10,000 high rise luxury residential units and now the largest hotel brands in the world, including the Hilton, Marriot and Crowne Plaza,” Fishbein told TRD via email. “We are bringing the necessary amenities,” to the burgeoning neighborhood, he said.
Baker said that Winick was looking for restaurants, gourmet markets, apparel and big box retailers.
In recent years development in the area has boomed, anchored by megaprojects like TF Cornerstone’s East Coast project (which has condominiums, rentals and retail spread over 21 acres), and Hunter’s Point South, a mixed-use waterfront development with 5,000 residential units, 11 acres of parkland and a school. Ground broke on phase one of that project last year, with phase two set to commence in the first half of this year.
The as-yet-unnamed project by Alma will have some competition, however. Last year, Jamestown revealed they were mulling plans for a Chelsea Market-type series of gourmet food stalls at 31-00 47th Avenue, for which the firm paid about $80 million in 2012.