NEW YORK | Former River Park Place Site | FT | FLOORS (870k sq-ft)

[chris08876]

Note: This could turn out to be something big for the area. Previous project details (which didn't happen) are highlited in red. Something to keep our attention to for the future. Like many other sites with a similar history, they eventually are developed.
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Troubled 4-acre Flushing site marketed as revived megaproject

A Borough Park-based investor group led by Chaim Babad and Reuven Rivlin is looking to sell a long-vacant 3.7-acre Flushing site once slated for hundreds of condominium units, The Real Deal has learned.

The sprawling lot between the condo complex Sky View Parc and the former home of Korean supermarket Assi Plaza offers as-of-right 870,000 buildable square feet. The owners hired a CBRE team to market the site at 39-08 Janet Place, also known as 131-35 Roosevelt Avenue, as an opportunity to revive plans for a mixed-use megadevelopment, according to sources familiar with the property.

The site does not have a formal asking price, but area brokers told TRD it is expected to sell for north of $120 million.

“The challenge is this is a huge site, so that narrows the possibilities of who can pull this together,” a source told TRD. “It would have to be a large developer with the energy and wherewithal to take the risk — someone who understands the Flushing market.”

The buyer would also have to be aware of the site’s tumultuous history.
The investor group, which includes Rivlin’s ABS Management & Development and Babad’s Babad Management, acquired the site for $26 million from Vintage Group in 2006. LEV Development Group, founded by Nest Seekers International CEO Eddie Shapiro, then spearheaded development plans for a large-scale complex on behalf of the new owners.

At the time, plans called for a five-tower mixed-use development called River Park Place to be designed by architect Ismael Leyva. The proposed complex on the Flushing River waterfront would span 757,000 square feet, including about roughly 450 apartments across 395,000 square feet. There would also be 313,000 square feet of commercial space – hotel and retail – as well as a 7,500-square-foot community space and 1,000 parking spaces.
Amid the market downturn, the partnership struggled to secure financing and the project never got off the ground.

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Older Rendering (Not happening):



Site:


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TDR

[antinimby]

Some Chinese investment group will snap that up in a second and build something just as fast.

They don't mess around. Time is money and they're intent on making lots of it.