A Queens charter school company just inked a 32-year lease for its second elementary school in Elmhurst.
Central Queens Academy will take 48,000 square feet at 86-55 Queens Boulevard, next to its current middle and elementary school in the Justice Avenue Tower. The school and a parking garage will occupy the entire building, which was developed by United Development & Construction Group.
“This allows them to have this big sprawling campus,” said Stephen Powers of OPEN Impact Real Estate. “It’s really two buildings combined over almost two acres.”
The charter school also inked a second 32-year lease for an additional 7,000 square feet at its existing building for a new gymnasium. Both the gym and the new school are expected to be completed by August.
The deals are structured as condominium leaseholds, a legal structure that shaves off property taxes for nonprofit tenants that sign leases of 30-plus years.
The new school will house 900 students when it reaches full capacity, in addition to the 900 students at the current school.
An OPEN team including Powers and Lindsay Ornstein represented the charter school in both transactions. Steve Zhu of Compass represented United.
Charter schools are a small but growing niche in the New York City real estate market that is immune to some of the challenges afflicting other asset classes. They are attractive to developers because they sign long-term leases and the rent is subsidized by the city and state.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the address of the Queens Boulevard property leased by Central Queens Academy.