Friday, July 5, 2013

Queens Plaza luxury condo failure, take 2

From Crain's:

Real estate investor Charles Dayan is buying a 130-unit apartment building in Long Island City, Queens, for roughly $85 million, according to sources. He will acquire the Crescent Club from a partnership between Simon Development Group and Meadow Partners, which took control of the building after it fell into distress in 2012.

The property, which is located at 41-17 Crescent St., was originally built by a company called NCF Equities. That firm, however, fell into default before finishing construction on the project. Subsequently, lender Citibank sold the mortgage to Simon and Meadow Partners in 2011 for $51 million.

Simon and Meadow Partners finished the building and converted it into rentals from its original intended use as a condo building and fully leased the property.


Perhaps the condo market is hot. But it's Queens Plaza. Come on.

I recall blogging about this place for Curbed back 6 years ago when it was new. Damn.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Word on the street was that the place was filled with male Asian drones that worked 16 hours a day in the cyberworld of Manhattan offices.

Perfect location for their corporations to rent - rent cheaper than Manhattan and no need for any neighborhood amenities.

Now how many new buildings are going up (all at the same time) with how many apartments (think people) within a 10 block radius?

To the west is the angry sewage filled toxic East River river ready to jump its banks in the face of an angry rain cloud, and to the east a very large toxic noisy train yard.

This building is next door to the largest housing project in the country, and at the foot of Queens Plaza, the Lincoln Tunnel-esque portal to Manhattan.

Hey, look on the positive side.

The government as sunk billions (well about 100 feet down in a rail tunnel) and you have Dutch Kills Green to relax in, the overgrown rats nest that cost millions but is the home, thanks to our forward thinking electeds, to the 300 hundred year old Dutch Kills millstones.

Complaints?

Well this is the area of the Dutch Kills Civic Association which is widely regarded as the (upszone! upzone!) most forward thinking civic in Queens!

Rewarded for their stellar service to the community by funding from all the local politicians.

Generous funding.

Anonymous said...

So a group buys the building for 51 million, rents out all the units and sells it for 85 million? Sounds like some failure.

Anonymous said...

The original firm defaulted on their mortgage while the place was under construction - fail #1. The bank sold the mortgage to the partners in 2011 for $51M. The partners couldn't sell the units as luxury condos so they changed it to rentals - fail #2. They unloaded it on some schmuck for $85M who thinks that it will revert back to condos. At Queens Plaza. Get ready for fail #3. Only in real estate is a double-fail marketed as a win with a straight face.

Joe Moretti said...

There was just too much development in LIC and too fast for it's own good. Besides, the Queens Plaza is not the greatest spot, right next to the bridge and trains.

Anonymous said...

Luxury buildings my ass. Everything is location in real estate and the noisy toxic environment around the Plaza will never be a place to live. Only clueless hipsters will move in but once they get married and move, the aging buildings will chance their character very quickly.

They are all going to be cheerless dorms for the drones of Manhattan - those that service the rich and cosmopolitans.

The pols will baby them until their campaign donors get back their investments.

Julia Robert said...

will charles give those apartments on rent or he will ask to real estate agents for this service ?
if he would search any agent so he can contact to us for selling or for giving apartments on very good rental price.

sunny isles condos

Anonymous said...

But it is okay, due to the fact also like McDonald's, their simply using this slogan to appeal to
your thoughts and trick you into caring.

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