$388M internal transfer at RXR, LBA Logistics Maspeth warehouse leased to Amazon

A RXR Realty and LBA Logistics joint venture through the entity 55-15 Grand Avenue Investor REIT, LP acquired an interest from an affiliate named 55-15 Grand Avenue Holdings REIT, LLC valued at $387.9 million for logistics development at 55-15 Grand Avenue in Maspeth, Queens. Reports said Amazon had signed a lease for the property.

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 770,822 square-foot S-1 building. The project was developed by Todd Rechler with plans filed May 21, 2020 and permitted March 2, 2021.
The internal transfer closed on March 10, 2023 and was recorded on March 14, 2023.
The seller bought the property on January 30, 2018, for $72 million. This is the sale from one RXR Realty fund to another of an 83.5 percent stake, and the parties paid a total of $12.6 million in city and state transfer taxes. The seller fund is headed by RXR’s Jason Barnett and Michael Maturo and the buyer fund is headed by RXR’s Stephen Ehlers and Peggy DaSilva. Amazon signed on as a tenant for the building.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer RXR Realty purchased nine properties in three transactions for a total of $343 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller RXR Realty purchased nine properties in three transactions for a total of $343 million and sold one properties in one transactions for a total of $320 million over the same time period.

The property

The 55-15 Grand Avenue parcel has frontage of 627 feet and is 600 feet deep with a total lot size of 384,695 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M3-1 which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $9.5 million.The most recent loan totaled $316 million and was provided by JPMorgan Chase on November 20, 2020.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $3,370 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Maspeth, the majority, or 73 percent of the 20.6 million square feet of commercial built space are industrial buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space. In sales, Maspeth has 2.1 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $743 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 3rd highest in Queens. For development, Maspeth has 1.8 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 6th highest in Queens. It had 1.9 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 9 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 13 commercial properties representing 120,200 square feet of the 872,658 square feet. The largest owner is RXR Realty, followed by Ping Yeung and then Lirr.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 770,822 square feet. It is a N/A-unit, 770,822-square-foot S-1 building developed by Todd Rechler with plans filed May 21, 2020 and permitted March 2, 2021.

The majority, or 100 percent of the 872,658 square feet of built space are industrial buildings, with development buildings next occupying 0 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that RXR Realty owned at least 21 commercial properties in New York City with 9,102,908 square feet and a city-determined market value of $3.2 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 94 percent of the 9,102,908 square feet of built space are office properties, with elevator properties next occupying 5 percent of the space. The bulk, or 88 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 11 percent of the space.

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