Queens Opportunity Zone Site Sells for $59M

Commercial building at 133-25 37th Ave. Image via Google Street View

China’s Yihai Group has sold a large development site in Queens, N.Y., for $58.5 million, or more than $290 per buildable square foot, amid a boom in commercial and residential development in the Flushing neighborhood. Cushman & Wakefield, whose Stephen Preuss represented the seller, announced the transaction without disclosing the buyer.

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The nearly 1-acre parcel at 133-25 37^th Ave. is believed to have sold to local developer Gary Tsan, as first reported by The Real Deal. Located within a federal Opportunity Zone, the site is home to an existing commercial building of about 51,617 square feet. The property’s C4-2 zoning (R6 equivalent) allows for more than 200,000 square feet of buildable space.

Beijing-based developer Yihai picked up the site for $28 million in 2013, according to property records. The company filed plans in 2018 to build a 19-story, mixed-use development of nearly 205,000 square feet that would include 146 residential units and 360 hotel guestrooms, along with retail and community space.

Flushing rises

Rendering of Yihai Group’s proposed project at 133-25 37th Ave. Image courtesy of Cushman & Wakefield

The property in downtown Flushing is located within a vibrant office and retail market, in a residential neighborhood centered around the Flushing-Main Street No. 7 subway terminal, nearby the Long Island Rail Road’s Port Washington Branch and LaGuardia Airport.

The parcel sits across the street from the new Tangram project, formerly Two Fulton Square, a 1.2 million-square-foot mixed-use development by F&T Group and SCG America. The first condo tower of the two-phase, four-tower complex opened in 2019. Other major projects nearby include One Fulton Square, Flushing Commons and Willets Point.

The surrounding area within a 1-mile radius of the site has a population of nearly 100,000, with a median household income of less than $38,000, data from Yardi Matrix shows. The population is more than 70 percent Asian.