NEW YORK—A development site at 44-46 Purves Street, located at the southwest end of Purves Street down the block from the Citigroup building in the Court Square section of Long Island City, Queens, was sold in an all-cash transaction valued at $4.1 million.
The site contains an approximately 9,132-sq.-ft. industrial building on a 4,566-sq.-ft. lot. It has approximately 101 ft. of frontage on Purves Street as well as 101 ft. on the northeast side of Thomson Avenue just steps from the entrance to the Queensboro Bridge. The site is part of the Queens Plaza Special Zoning District which gives the lot a zoning designation of M1-5/R9 with an FAR of 8.0, which allows for a total of approximately 36,528 buildable sq. ft. The sale price equates to approximately $113 per buildable sq. ft.
This site, nestled between Court Square and Queens Plaza in the heart of Long Island City, posed an excellent opportunity for a commercial, residential, or mixed-use development. It is surrounded by recently completed and new developments in progress, such as the Arris Lofts, Linc LIC, The Industry, and Rockrose’s expansion of the newly acquired 43-22 Queens Street. Its close proximity to seven subway lines and nearby access to both the Queensboro Bridge and Midtown Tunnel provide a number of transportation options.
“Due to the demand for development sites in Long Island City, we had a tremendous amount of interest and were able to secure a buyer in a very short time frame,” Massey Knakal Director of Sales Evan J. Daniel, who exclusively handled this transaction, said in a statement. “Since the contract was signed, price per buildable square foot continues to rise and has now surpassed the height of the market previously seen in 2007.”