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Developers score at least $446M in city financing for LIC development
The mixed-use project will have 1,120 residential units, with 900 set aside for households earning between 30 and 145 percent of AMI
The developers of two new skyscrapers on the Queens waterfront just scored at least $446.1 million in city financing.
The developers, a joint venture between Gotham Organization and RiseBoro Community Partnership, received the loan from the city’s Housing Development Corporation and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development for their Hunters Point South mixed-use project, according to records filed with the city Monday.
HDC provided a $311 million construction loan, $229 of which is a participation loan with Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase, according to an HDC spokesperson. HPD provided an additional $134.4 million in financing, according to a spokesperson for the agency.
The massive project will include more than 1,000 residential units and be composed of two towers, according to plans filed with the city in March. The first tower, at 57-28 Second Street, will span about 335,000 square feet and stand 33 stories and 360 feet tall. The building will have 452 residential units across 328,000 square feet, with the remainder devoted to a community facility. The second tower, in an adjacent lot, will be the tallest yet on the Queens waterfront. The building will span 700,000 square feet, with 640,000 square feet devoted to residential space, 19,000 square feet for community space and 9,000 for commercial space. Renderings of the project, designed by Handel Architects, show a massive glass skyscraper with a slanted top and a retail portion at the base, creating “a sense of rhythm,” according to the architect’s plan.
The project will set aside 900 residential units for households earning between 30 and 145 percent of area median income.
In 2017, the city selected Gotham Organization and local nonprofit RiseBoro Community Partnership to develop the property. The project, which also sits in an Opportunity Zone, secured $83 million in funding from Goldman Sachs last year through the firm’s Urban Investment Group, a smaller unit of Goldman Sachs that has invested $375 million in Opportunity Zone areas around the nation.
Gotham Organization, led by CEO Joel Picket and his son David Picket, is one of the oldest development firms in New York City, where it was founded in 1913. It has built around 35,000 apartments and 40 million square feet of commercial and residential space, mostly in Manhattan. This year, Gotham Organization’s plans for Long Island City took the No. 2 and No. 4 spots for the largest development projects for which plans were filed, according to TRD.
Gotham Organization did not return a request for comment. A spokesperson for RiseBoro Community Partnership acknowledged the financing but did not comment.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the loan was at least $689 million. The correct figure is at least $446 million. A previous version of this story also stated the amount Goldman Sachs’ Urban Investment Group had invested in Opportunity Zones was over $150 million. The unit has invested $375 million.