North Flushing Pool Club Sells for $16M
Developer Chris Xu’s Corona-based real estate firm, United Construction & Development Group, recently acquired the North Flushing Pool Club site for $16 million. A limited liability company affiliated with Xu’s firm closed on the 0.8-acre property less than six months after brokerage firm Development Site Advisors began marketing it in March.
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Rising Mortgage Rates Could Take 20% Bite Out of Home Prices
A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas is adding to the chorus of those predicting a big downturn in home prices. Home prices in the country could fall 15 to 20 percent in a “pessimistic” scenario. If that correction happens, it could remove 0.5 to 0.7 percentage points from consumer spending. Mortgage rates have jumped from about 3 percent to 7 percent this year as the Federal Reserve announced interest rate hikes in an attempt to clamp down on inflation. The Fed has raised interest rates by 3.75 percent since March.
Source: The Real Deal
Mayor Adams Unveils Vision for Willets Point Transformation, Generational 100 Percent Affordable Housing Project, Privately Financed Soccer Stadium
New York City Mayor Eric Adams unveiled his administration’s vision for the next phase of the transformation of the Willets Point community in Queens. Through a new partnership with 2021 Major League Soccer (MLS) Cup champions New York City Football Club (NYCFC) and Queens Development Group (QDG) — a joint venture of Related Companies and Sterling Equities — Willets Point will be anchored by 2,500 new affordable homes, the largest 100-percent affordable, new construction housing project in New York City in 40 years, which will be constructed on an accelerated timeline.
Source: NYC.gov
Naftali Lands $385 Million Loan for Major Brooklyn Project
The Naftali Group has received a big vote of confidence in its effort to develop the last major piece of northern Brooklyn’s waterfront, even as the residential market has cooled. The luxury developer has scored $385 million in construction financing for 470 Kent Ave., a three-tower residential project to rise on the site of a former lumber warehouse on the East River in Williamsburg. Plans for the site, which is at Division Avenue, include towers of up to 22 stories that have a total of 561 apartments. One of the towers will feature 90 condos, while the other two will contain rental units.
Source: CRAIN'S New York Business
How Will Hochul Respond to N.Y.’s Housing Crisis?
While running for reelection, Gov. Kathy Hochul pledged to jumpstart the construction of 500,000 to 1 million new homes to deal with a housing crisis that stretches from New York City to the suburbs, and even upstate. But first, in the two months before she’ll lay out her priorities in her State of the State speech and budget plan, she will have to choose from a dizzying list of proposals from Mayor Eric Adams, real estate interests, tenant groups and others. They seek tax breaks, new subsidy programs, changes to override local zoning rules and more.
Source: The City
Alloy Development’s First All-Electric Tower in Downtown Brooklyn Seeks 100 Percent Local Renewable Energy
Alloy Development (Alloy) announced plans to power the city’s first electric residential tower with 100 percent renewable energy. The Brooklyn-based firm recently issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) that seeks to partner with a community solar developer to enroll 100 Flatbush, the mixed-use tower now rising in Downtown Brooklyn, in community solar projects that will secure a 100 percent renewable energy supply for the building. The 44-story project is part of the first phase of the Alloy Block, a mixed-use development that will comprise five old and new buildings and will provide residential, office, cultural and retail space, as well as the city’s first two public schools designed to meet Passive House compliance.
Source: REW Online
Bushwick Council Member Issues Requirements For Developers Pitching Rezonings
Jennifer Gutiérrez, the New York City Council member for a stretch of Brooklyn that has gentrified rapidly over the past decade, has laid down new guidelines for developers hoping to pitch projects in her district. Gutiérrez says that proposed developments for District 34, which spans Bushwick, Williamsburg and parts of Ridgewood, should not result in the loss of rent-stabilized or income-restricted units. Projects should maximize “deeply affordable housing at 50% [of area median income] and below in order to create opportunities for those with the greatest need, who have been increasingly displaced in District 34,” the guidelines read.
Source: BISNOW
Fed’s Aggressive Rate Hikes Are a Game Changer
As the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to cool the economy and slow inflation, it is contending with the imprecise and inconsistent effect of monetary policy on the economy. The Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman famously argued that “monetary actions affect economic conditions only after a lag that is both long and variable.” Since it can take years before the full effects of tightening become apparent, the Fed tends to move incrementally, adjusting policy gradually while scrutinizing economic data for signs of its effects.
Source: WSJ
Thor Launches $3B “Underdog” Brooklyn Casino Bid
Joseph Sitt is the latest developer to push all of his chips into the pot for a New York City casino. His Thor Equities is proposing a $3 billion casino in Brooklyn’s Coney Island, the New York Times first reported. The developer announced the bid in partnership with Saratoga Casino Holdings and the Chickasaw Nation. The gambling venue is the crux of his proposal for one of New York City’s three casino operating licenses, but is only part of Sitt’s vision for a hotel and entertainment complex for Coney Island with a roller coaster, an indoor water park, hotels and museums.
Source: The Real Deal
NYC Comptroller Outlines Framework for Comprehensive Property Tax Reform
Lander proposes bringing together long overdue reform for overtaxed homeowners with changes to multifamily taxation in the wake of the expiration of 421-a. Framework would bring fairness and transparency, incentivize new rental housing production, tie tax breaks to actual affordability, and include a 21st century Mitchell-Lama program for Permanently Affordable Cooperative Homeownership.
Source: NYC Comptroller
Media Mentions
Iconic TITAN Closes Its Doors at 31st Street in Astoria Next Sunday
NEW YORK – It’s officially the end of an era for the historic Titan Foods supermarket as far as its current location is concerned, which is set to close its doors this coming Sunday, June 18. The news was officially announced by Titan Foods Inc. in a notice that was posted at the store to inform consumers.
Flushing's North Flushing Pool Club Site for Sale with Development Site Advisors
Midtown Manhattan based commercial real estate brokerage, Development Site Advisors® (DSA) have been exclusively hired to market 141-01 32nd Avenue, an impressive 0.83-acre property in the sought-after Flushing neighborhood of Queens, NY. The property is the site of the long-established North Flushing Pool Club, which has been in existence here for over six decades.
Maddd Equities buys Inwood waterfront dev site, leading midsize i-sales
An entity linked to Stylianos Aniftos and Astrit Skara picked up a development site at 26-37 30th Street in Astoria for $10.5 million from three separate LLC’s. Development Site Advisors’ Rubin Isak and Lev Kimyagarov brokered the deal. The 16,300-square-foot lot had been family owned for more than 50 years and consists of four adjacent lots on 30th and 31st streets between Astoria Boulevard and Newtown Avenue.
Building of Titan Supermarket in Astoria is Sold
With $10.5 million as the final price of the transaction, the well-known homegrown supermarket Titan Foods has been completed.
Queens’ top 10 neighborhoods for Q3 home sales
The top sale in the Astoria neighborhood was a two-story, 45-foot-wide house built in 1940 at 25-23 Newtown Avenue. It was sold for $4.8 million by Development Site Advisors, which marketed the property as either a residence or a redevelopment opportunity.
South Bronx piano warehouse hits the market
A 140-year-old piano factory in the South Bronx has hit the market for $11.5 million.
Recent Commercial Real Estate Transactions
This 13,116-square-foot vacant building in the Elmhurst neighborhood...
New firm looking to dominate development site sector
Veteran brokers Lev Kimyagarov and Rubin Isak are seizing opportunity during the coronavirus pandemic to direct their skills towards a niche market. The pair have formed a new firm, Develo...
Kimyagarov, Isak Open Development Site Advisors
Lev Kimyagarov and Rubin Isak, former senior directors at Massey Knakal Realty Services/Cushman & Wakefield and Eastern Consolidated, respectively, have formed Development Site Advisors, solely focused on th...
Development plummeted this year, but sector still shows signs of life
Sales of development sites in the city dropped 27% to 103 transactions so far this year, compared to the same period in 2019, according to an analysis by real estate firm Development Site Advisors...
New Brokerage Hopes To Carve Out Niche For NYC Development Site Sales
While major brokerage firms trim staff amid a stagnating market, a new development site brokerage firm, hoping to redefine how transactions get done within the asset class, has doubled in size since the sta...
Knakal, Eastern Consolidated Alum Launch Development Site Advisors
NEW YORK CITY—Lev Kimyagarov and Rubin Isak, former senior directors at Massey Knakal Realty Services/Cushman & Wakefield and Eastern Consolidated respectively, have launched Development Site Advisors.&nbs...
New Development-Focused Brokerage Looks to Grow Team
Two veteran New York City brokers have teamed up to form Development Site Advisors, a brokerage that focuses exclusively on development sites.
Kimyagarov and Isak open Development Site Advisors; focusing solely on development sites
New York, NY Lev Kimyagarov and Rubin Isak, former senior directors at Massey Knakal Realty Services/Cushman & Wakefield and Eastern Consolidated respectively, have formed Development S...
Ex-Massey Knakal, C&W, Eastern Consolidated Execs Form NYC Brokerage Focused on Development Sites
NEW YORK—Lev Kimyagarov and Rubin Isak, former senior directors at Massey Knakal Realty Services/Cushman & Wakefield and Eastern Consolidated respectively, have Development Site Advisors, the only firm in New York City with a sole focus on the development site sector.
New development to replace famous Mott Haven building
Third Avenue in Mott Haven is slated to look quite different in the near future.
Development Site Advisors Hired to Sell the Famed Beethoven Piano Factory Building in Mott Haven, Bronx for $11.5M
The Building, built for and once owned by J.L. Mott, the individual Mott Haven was named after.
Astoria Development Site Hits the Market at $9M
Development Site Advisors has been hired to sell 11-32 and 11-38 31st Ave. in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens. The two sites are combined from the rear, giving a developer multiple options. Asking price for the property is $8.8 million.
