City Environmental Agency Relocates Next to Polluted Creek

New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection found a fitting home in Long Island City.

Through the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, DEP signed a lease for 155,000 square feet at Innovo Property Group’s 24-02 49th Avenue, the Commercial Observer reported. The agency will use the space for offices and laboratories.

The building is along the Newtown Creek, which flows into the East River. It was once a maritime thoroughfare used by industrial companies, but became polluted over the years and was declared a superfund site more than a decade ago.

The U.S. Department of Environmental Protection is working on remediations to the river, working on the eastern branch of the waterway. It’s unclear if the DEP is participating in that process, but Lisa Garcia’s city agency will have to keep a watchful eye over things.

The relocation from 59-17 Junction Boulevard in Flushing was first hinted at in 2023, when DCAS and DEP filed an application to relocate the lab space, declaring the Flushing site “too small to fully accommodate DEP’s existing staff, new equipment, and storage space needs for lab supplies.”

The asking rent for the 20-year lease was not disclosed. The average asking rent for industrial space in Northwest Queens in the fourth quarter was $24.56 per square foot, according to CoStar.

CBRE’s David Stockel and John Isaacs represented the tenant, while a separate CBRE team represented the landlord.

Innovo and Westbrook Partners bought the property from Rubin Schron’s Cammeby’s International for $195 million in 2016, according to the Observer. Years later, Innovo and Hong Kong’s Nan Fung Group entered into contract to buy Westbrook out of its majority stake in the seven-story, 800,000-square-foot warehouse.

DCAS is the city’s strongest link to real estate, managing approximately 400 leases at private properties and 15 million square feet of city-owned space. Last month, Mayor Zohran Mamdani appointed Yume Kitasei as the commissioner of the agency.

— Holden Walter-Warner