Cine Magic pays $19.1M to Alexandria to develop new LIC film studios

Film production facility Cine Magic Companies through the entity CM LIC Studios 30th Street Ii LLC paid $19.1 million to life sciences firm Alexandria Real Estate Equities through the entity Are-Ny Region No. 3 Holding, LLC for the industrial building (E1) at 47-50 30th Street in Long Island City, Queens.
The deal closed on December 29, 2023 and was recorded on January 11, 2024. The property has 52,500 square feet of built space and 59,466 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 112,200 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $363 and the price per buildable square foot is $170 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 seller bought the property on July 10, 2019, for $25 million. The signatory for Alexandria Real Estate Equities was Gary Dean. The signatory for Cine Magic Companies was John F. Shannon Jr. The contract date was April 21, 2023.

To finance the purchase, Cine Magic Companies through the entity Cm Lic Studios 30th Street II LLC as borrower signed an acquisition loan with lender BEB Capital through the entity Beb Credit Opportunity Fund, LP valued at $10.8 million.

Cine Magic Companies is a sound stage company. According to city funding document (NYCIDA pdf), “The 30th Street II Project will involve the acquisition, renovation, furnishing and equipping of a sound studio and support facility in addition to an above grade parking lot. The Companies are television and motion picture studio developers and operators and will be an expansion of the Cine Magic Companies’ studio portfolio. ” Alexandria Real Estate Equities bought the property in July 2019 for $25 million.

This is the first of two properties Cine Magic intends to buy and receive city and state subsidies. John F. Shannon Jr. is an Investor Member he has “over 20 years of real estate experience… Since 2021, Mr. Shannon has focused on industrial assets, sound stages and multifamily housing.” Petros Kapsalis is a founding member of the Cine Magic Companies, “playing an instrumental role in their roots as an inventor and manufacturer of film technology beginning in 1993.”

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Cine Magic Companies had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Alexandria Real Estate Equities had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The 52,500-square-foot property generated revenue of $867,902 or $17 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The industrial building in Long Island City has 52,500 square feet of built space and 59,466 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 112,200 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 413 feet and is 160 feet deep with a total lot size of 56,100 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M3-2 which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $4.5 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $2,000 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

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 7th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.6 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Long Island City is the 5th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 7.5 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 13 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were two 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 eight of the 14 commercial properties representing 442,640 square feet of the 592,965 square feet. The largest owner is Morgan Stanley, followed by Lirr and then James Juliano.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 100 percent of the 592,965 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 Alexandria Real Estate Equities owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 52,500 square feet and a city-determined market value of $4.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single industrial property. It is located in Queens.

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