[NYguy]

http://www.law360.com/articles/47757...ns-development

World-Wide Gets $110M Financing For Queens Development

By Kaitlin Ugolik
October 04, 2013

German commercial bank Landesbank Hessen-Thuringen Girozentrale has provided $110 million in construction financing to World-Wide Group for a residential project in Long Island City, N.Y., the developer's attorneys announced Wednesday.

The project, at 41-42 24th St., between 41st Avenue and 42nd Road, will be a high-rise building with 421 residential units, about 8,700 square feet of retail space and a parking garage, according to Hunton & Williams LLP, which is representing the developer. The financing closed on Sept. 25, according to the firm.

“We are proud to represent our long-standing client, World-Wide, in this development project in Long Island City,” real estate partner Laurie Grasso said in a statement. “Our client seized upon this great opportunity ... by buying the site last year, which was a stalled project by a previous developer, and waiting for the right time to develop [it].”

World-Wide bought the site for about $29 million last year, according to property records. The project is the company's first outside of Manhattan in about 10 years, and the firm is reportedly expected to spend about $157 million on the development.

Construction has already begun on the site, according to Grasso.

It's one of several major residential projects being planned for the quickly-growing Queens neighborhood. SMA Equities is working on a 12-story project about a block away from the World-Wide site, according to an application filed with the city on Oct. 2, and the 5Pointz graffiti mecca in the neighborhood will soon be turned into condominiums.

The New York City Planning Commission approved the 5Pointz proposal in August, including a zoning variance that will allow the developers to build the towers higher than typically would be allowed — one at 47 stories and one at 41 stories. The project is expected to have about 1,000 rental apartments, 30,000 square feet of outdoor public space and 50,000 square feet of retail space, according to the Wolkoff family, which plans to tear down the epically decorated 5Pointz building.

Rockrose Development Corp., which has been developing in Long Island City for decades, recently completed a 708-unit building in the neighborhood and has said it is planning a 975-unit tower on Hunter Street and a 700-unit project on Queens Street as well.

All of these projects come at a time when the average asking rent for an apartment at a new development in Long Island City is almost reaching Manhattan levels. According to residential real estate analysis firm Marketing Directors, the average asking rent for a studio in the neighborhood reached $2,294 in August; the average on Manhattan's West Side was $2,356 during the same period.

^ Looks like that's for another development, Queens is getting so many these days.



Marked this site for clarity, now we need a rendering...