Tavros Capital is working on assembling a large development site in Long Island City’s Court Square neighborhood that will come with a price tag of $30 million-plus when all is said and done.
The Soho-based investment and development firm recently closed on a trio of properties on 23rd Street in the shadow of the Citigroup Building, and is negotiating to buy several other properties and air rights that would give the firm as much as 250,000 square feet of development rights.
The developer plans to construct a mixed-use development with a multi-level retail component as well as office and residential spaces.
A key to the assemblage is a provision the city put in place when it rezoned the section of Long Island City back in 1986. The C5-3 zoning covering a three-block section adjacent to the Court Square No. 7 train station allows for a floor to area ratio of 2. But when a site of 10,000 square feet or more is assembled, that FAR jumps up to 15.
“There is a substantial jump,” said Evan Daniel, executive vice president of the investment sales group at Modern Spaces TRData LogoTINY, who along with his team at the Long Island City-focused brokerage marketed five of the seven properties that make up the assemblage.
“What’s unique – despite the fact that you’ve got multiple property owners – is that you need to have a certain amount of land to trigger the bonus,” he added.
Tavros closed in late July on three properties at 5-03, 45-07 and 45-09 13rd Street for a total of $11.25 million. The firm has a contract to buy two other properties Modern Spaces is marketing and is negotiating to buy two others being marketed by Andrew Mapp at the Corcoran Group.
Those properties give Tavros more than 167,000 square feet of development rights, and additional available air rights near by could push the total buildable up to 250,000 square feet. When all the ink is dry, the assemblage could total around $30 million to $35 million, Daniel said.
As part of the deal, the developer will make payments to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that will go toward transit improvements at the subway station.
David Roger Grossmann, Edward DiTomasso and Ashley Grebow of Modern Spaces negotiated on behalf of the sellers along with Daniel. Pascal Levy of Besen Associates represented Tavros.
The area’s unique zoning paved the way for the 1.5 million-square-foot Citigroup Building – also known as One Court Square – as well as a pair of other big-ticket projects in the works.
Well that one used to be it’s own project until it was sold to the developers of this project recently, but yes it also now needs to be merged, but @chris08876 can make that decision/judgement.
That’s just what happens when diffferent developers start to assemble lots right next to each other and end up selling to the neighboring developer, you end up with multiple projects in the beginning and then have to merge the threads in the end.
Japan’s Toyoko Inn is moving ahead with plans for a massive hotel in Long Island City — its first in the U.S. — after initially toying with the idea in 2010.
The hotel chain filed plans Tuesday to build a 50-story, 261,000-square-foot hotel at 24-09 Jackson Avenue, according to a permit application.
The proposed building will hold 1,260 hotel rooms. Hotel Architect DPC is the architect of record, according to the filing.
The development site is bound by 23rd street and 45th Avenue and is made up of six separate parcels of land. The company paid a total of $18 million for it in 2007. In 2010, the company announced it was planning to open a 640-room hotel in Queens, which has yet to come to fruition.
Toyoko Inn is an economy hotel chain, with more than 200 operations in Japan, Korea and Cambodia. It also has hotels scheduled to open in Germany and the Philippines. According to the company’s website, there are no other Toyoko Inns slated to open in the U.S.
Earlier this year, Flushing-based developer Chris Jiashu Xu filed plans for a 79-story residential tower in Long Island City.
Neither a representative for Toyoko Inn or Hotel Architect DCP were immediately available for comment.
Structural Occupancy Category: II - OTHER THAN I, III OR IV
Seismic Design Category: CATEGORY B
2014/2008 Code Designations?
Occupancy Classification: R-1 - RESIDENTIAL: HOTELS, DORMITORIES Yes No
Construction Classification: I-B: 2 HOUR PROTECTED - NON-COMBUST Yes No
Multiple Dwelling Classification: HAEA Building Height (ft.): 514
**Building Stories: 50 ** Dwelling Units: 1260
they’re still working on getting it approved by the dob. The newest permits were filed last March. Hopefully things go through and we’ll get another 500+ footer for Long Island City.
A pair of buyers are in contract to pick up the development site of a planned hotel in Long Island City, potentially changing the course of the project.
Charney Companies and Tavros Capital are in contract to buy the development site at 24-09 Jackson Avenue in Queens from Toyoko Inn, PincusCo reported. The cost won’t be known until the sale closes, but the site was being offered at about $60 million.
Quote:
Charney in February filed a permit application for the construction of a 54-unit, 61,000-square-foot project at the site. An owner can develop a 267,000-square-foot residential building on the site as-of-right.
Tavros and Charney have experience teaming up on projects. The companies in January bought a full-block site at 318 Nevins Street along the Gowanus Canal from Property Markets Group for $102 million. They plan to build about 660 rental apartments on the property, which has more than 500,000 square feet of buildable space.
Yeah, I walked around LIC today and grabbed this pic. There was a bulldozer on site actively clearing.
Also more credit to NYGuy on SSP for continuing to dig and find these renderings today. I’m not sure where they found these pics though. I guess it’s being treated as two towers connected by a central piece.
Its also amusing how there’s a holdout on the corner of this assemblage. Reminds me of 30 Rock or Macys on 34th.
Anyway this is huge as we will have a sheer wall of towers on 23rd Street.
