Elon Musk is the new King of Queens.
Tesla, his groundbreaking electric car company, has leased 150,000 square feet at 30-02 Whitestone Expressway, a build-to-suit manufacturing development in College Point, according to an industrial report from JLL.
The site formerly housed a Toys-R-Us, Party City and College Point Multiplex. The movie theater shut its doors on May 5 and demolition was planned until building owner Triangle Equities opted to renovate the space instead, Department of Buildings records show.
Financial terms of Tesla’s lease of the space, which was built in 1999, have not been released. It is unclear how the automaker plans to use the space, but it has only one service center in Queens, on Van Dam Street in Long Island City.
A 425,000-square-foot industrial site was previously planned at the College Point site, New York YIMBY reported last year. Filings now show a 153,000-square-foot retail and manufacturing development is planned. It will include more than 700 available parking spaces.
Ceso Architects is collaborating with Triangle Equities on the build-out for Tesla.
In August, a supercharger team at the electric-car company snapped up a 40,000-square-foot site in the Maspeth area of Queens, paying $18 million to Adam Gordon’s Wildflower, New York Business Journal reported.
Withdrawn demolition permits for 30-02 Whitestone Expressway show that demolishing the property would have cost Triangle Equities $1.5 million, while converting the former theater and retail space will cost about $8 million.
Triangle Equities bought the site from the city for $9.8 million in 2000, according to New York City records. Records show a $50 million loan on the property was secured from Centennial Bank in late 2023.
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Tesla sells cars directly to consumers rather than through dealerships, a policy that conflicted with New York state law and led to a legal battle between the carmaker and the government. It eventually cut a deal with the Cuomo administration in 2014 to settle the matter. Tesla was allowed to keep its existing five showrooms but agreed not to open others.
The auto dealership lobby continued to oppose Tesla’s expansion efforts, which included a bill in 2018 to allow more stores. It never got out of committee in the state legislature.