Ampiera Group signs $29.7M construction loan with ICBC for 78-unit project in Woodside

Ampiera Group through the entity 4061 Street, LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender Industrial and Commercial Bank Of China valued at $29.7 million for the midblock industrial building at 40-20 61st Street in Woodside, Queens.
The deal closed on March 29, 2022 and was recorded on April 19, 2022.

The property has zero square feet of built space and 63,045 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 63,045 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per buildable square foot is $471 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.)
The owner bought the property on April 26, 2019, for $3.1 million. The signatory for Ampiera Group was Alex Lau. Alex Lau is an investor with Ampiera Group.

The property

The 40-20 61st Street parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 147 feet deep with a total lot size of 21,015 square feet. The zoning is R6A which allows for up to 3 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.7 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was not involved in any lawsuits or bankruptcies in the past years. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $32,530 in ECB penalties in the last year.

Development

On these lots, there is one active new building construction project for a 78-unit, 60,774-square-foot R-2 building. The project was developed by Henry Zhao with plans filed June 8, 2020 and permitted June 1, 2021.

The neighborhood

In Woodside, the bulk, or 29 percent of the 22.8 million square feet of commercial built space are 1-4 family buildings, with residential elevator buildings next occupying 28 percent of the space. In sales, Woodside has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $143.7 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Woodside has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 585,240 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 3 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 17 commercial properties representing 83,768 square feet of the 130,676 square feet. The largest owner is Ampiera Group, followed by Cammeby’s International Group and then Panagiotis Zoitas. There are two active new building construction projects totaling 64,386 square feet. The largest is a 78-unit, 60,774-square-foot R-2 building developed by Henry Zhao with plans filed June 8, 2020 and permitted June 1, 2021. The second largest is a two-unit, 3,612-square-foot R-3 building developed by Sen Ye with plans filed January 15, 2019 and permitted August 26, 2021.

The majority, or 33 percent of the 195,495 square feet of built space are 1-4 family buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 22 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Ampiera Group owned at least two commercial properties with 22,170 square feet and a city-determined market value of $7.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $7 million in debt, borrowed from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 100 percent of the 22,170 square feet of built space are mixed-use properties, with development properties next occupying 0 percent of the space. They are all located in Queens.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 40-20 61st Street, PincusCo identified three commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those three items, three were loans above $5 million totaling $59.6 million. The most recent of the three was AAG Management which borrowed $7.8 million from New York Community Bank secured by the 46,101-square-foot, 55-unit rental (D7) on 60-15 Woodside Avenue on December 15, 2021.

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