Century Development signs $25.3M new construction loan for 64-unit project in Long Island City

George Xu’s Century Development Group through the entity 33rd Street Ventures, LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender MidFirst Bank valued at $25.3 million for the 64-unit development at 37-24 33rd Street in Long Island City, Queens.
On these lots, there is one active new building construction project for a 64-unit, 58,254-square-foot residential (R-2) building. The project was developed by George Xu with plans filed October 19, 2020.
The deal closed on July 21, 2022 and was recorded on August 17, 2022. The prior lender was Amerant Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $7 million. The property has 11,620 square feet of built space and 36,806 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 48,429 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $2,181 and the price per buildable square foot is $523 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 January 6, 2020, for $13 million. The signatory for Century Development Group was George Xu. The signatory for MidFirst Bank was James Lim.

The property

The 37-24 33rd Street parcel has frontage of 126 feet and is 180 feet deep with a total lot size of 16,143 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-2/R6A which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing and up to 3 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.2 million.

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 $1,300 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Long Island City, the bulk, or 34 percent of the 63.3 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 32 percent of the space. In sales, Long Island City has the 7th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.8 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Long Island City is the 3rd most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 9.5 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 15 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other industrial buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the nine commercial properties representing 11,620 square feet of the 155,614 square feet. The identified owner is Century Development Group.
There are three active new building construction projects totaling 148,406 square feet. The largest is an 86-unit, 76,083-square-foot R-2 building developed by Jin Huang with plans filed September 25, 2015 and permitted April 24, 2018. The second largest is a 64-unit, 58,254-square-foot R-2 building developed by George Xu with plans filed October 19, 2020 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 70 percent of the 155,614 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Century Development Group owned at least 40 commercial properties in New York City with 532,527 square feet and a city-determined market value of $69.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $220.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as Maxim Capital Group, Sovcombank, and Maxim Credit Group respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 35 percent of the 532,527 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with hotel properties next occupying 31 percent of the space. They are all located in Queens.

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