Century Development signs $65.7M construction loan with Maxim Capital for hotel in Flushing

Century Development Group through the entity CG & J Realty, LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender Maxim Capital Group through the entity Maxim Credit Group, LLC valued at $65.7 million for the development building at 137-61 Northern Boulevard in Flushing, Queens. Century filed plans for a 282-unit hotel in 2018 at a corner with Leavitt Street.
The deal closed on May 6, 2022 and was recorded on May 23, 2022. The prior lender was Bank of China which held debt that had an original loan amount of $9.9 million. The property has zero square feet of built space and 76,545 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 76,545 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per buildable square foot is $858 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 signatory for Century Development Group was Jiapeng George Xu. The signatory for Maxim Capital Group was Joshua Knoll. Joshua Knoll is an associate with the law firm Mavrides, Moyal, Packman & Sadkin.

The property

The 137-61 Northern Boulevard parcel has frontage of 247 feet and is 125 feet deep with a total lot size of 31,500 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-3 which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 2.43 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $7.9 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 one DOB violation, $8,185 in ECB penalties, and $21,495 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On these lots, there is one active new building construction project for a 282-unit, 152,161-square-foot hotel (R-1) building. The project was developed by George Xu with plans filed September 6, 2018 and permitted September 16, 2021.

The neighborhood

In Flushing, the bulk, or 39 percent of the 78.7 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with 1-4 family buildings next occupying 29 percent of the space. In sales, Flushing has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $312.4 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 4th highest in Queens. For development, Flushing has 2.9 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 5th highest in Queens. It had 2.6 million 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 two of the 59 commercial properties representing 12,000 square feet of the 63,762 square feet. The identified owner is Peter Cheng. There are four active new building construction projects totaling 171,461 square feet. The largest is a 282-unit, 152,161-square-foot R-1 building developed by George Xu with plans filed September 6, 2018 and permitted September 16, 2021. The second largest is a six-unit, 7,040-square-foot R-2 building developed by Jian Wu with plans filed November 3, 2017 and permitted May 21, 2021.

the majority, or 43 percent of the 104,795 square feet of built space are 1-4 family buildings, with residential walkup buildings next occupying 33 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Century Development Group owned at least 10 commercial properties with 358,387 square feet and a city-determined market value of $28.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $155.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as Sovcombank, Maxim Credit Group, and MFI Capital respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 52 percent of the 358,387 square feet of built space are residential elevator properties, with office properties next occupying 22 percent of the space. They are all located in Queens.

Surrounding

PincusCo has not identified any commerial real estate items of interest within a 400-foot radius of 137-61 Northern Boulevard that occurred over the past 24 months.

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