B Square Realty signs $33M construction loan with Ponce Bank in LIC

B Square Realty through the entity BS LIC Realty LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender Ponce Bank valued at $33 million for the development site (V1) at 42-38 27th Street in Long Island City, Queens.
On these lots, there is one active new building construction project, Q00710146, for a 56-unit, 50,706 square-foot residential (R-2) building. The project was submitted by Hang Dong Zhang, also known as Ben Zhang, with plans filed April 1, 2022 and permitted May 13, 2023.

42-38 27th Street ZD1 DOB Zoning Diagram
The deal closed on December 24, 2024 and was recorded on January 17, 2025. The prior lender was Popular Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $5.2 million. The loan price per project square foot is $650 per the PincusCo analysis.
The signatory for B Square Realty was Hang Dong Zhang. The signatory for Ponce Bank was Steven A. Tsavaris.

The property

The development building with 2 residential units in Long Island City has 12,416 square feet of built space and 67,690 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 69,665 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 44 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,460 square feet. The zoning is M1-5/R7-3 which allows for up to 5 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $450,000. The most recent loan totaled $5.2 million and was provided by Popular Bank on February 8, 2022.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $2,250 in ECB penalties and $2,300 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Long Island City, The bulk, or 32 percent of the 60.1 million square feet of commercial built space are industrial buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 31 percent of the space. In sales, Long Island City has the 8th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.1 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Long Island City is the 6th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 6.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 10 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other development buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On the tax block of 42-38 27th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of 10 of the 12 commercial properties representing 34,786 square feet of the 34,786 square feet. The two identified owners are Royal Companies and Hang Dong Zhang.
On the tax block, there were five new building construction projects totaling 230,164 square feet. The largest is a 175-unit, 82,941 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Mason Chen and filed by Chen Mason with plans filed January 17, 2019 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 121-unit, 82,941 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Judy Chang with plans filed February 25, 2021 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 70 percent of the 34,786 square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 16 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Hang Dong Zhang owned at least 10 commercial properties with two residential units in New York City with 76,549 square feet and a city-determined market value of $20.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $49.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as Ponce Bank, S3 Capital, and Popular Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 69 percent of the 76,549 square feet of built space are hotel properties, with retail properties next occupying 8 percent of the space. The bulk, or 50 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 50 percent of the space.

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