City pays $81.8M to Eastone Equities, partners, for school dev site in Flushing

The New York City School Construction Authority paid $81.8 million to Eastone Equities, Xuan Cheng, Wei Guo, YiHun Chen, and Jianfei Chen through the entity 4509 Eighth LLC for the development site (V0) at 137-31 45th Avenue in Flushing, Queens.
The deal closed on February 7, 2024 and was recorded on February 9, 2024. The property has 22,532 square feet of built space and 239,960 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 239,960 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per buildable square foot is $341 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 30, 2018, for $50 million. The signatory for Eastone Equities, Xuan Cheng, Wei Guo, YiHun Chen, and Jianfei Chen was Xuan Cheng, Wei Guo, YiHun Chen, and Jianfei Chen. The signatory for NYC School Construction Authority was Nina Kubota. The contract date was December 15, 2022.

Eastone Equities was facing foreclosure at a condo project in Queens. The City Council approved a plan to construct a new school at this Flushing site in a vote December 20, 2024.  The sellers bought the parcel from the New York Armenian Home in 2018 for $50 million.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer NYC School Construction Authority purchased 18 properties in nine transactions for a total of $160.3 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Eastone Equities had not purchased any other properties and sold four properties in one transactions for a total of $25 million over the same time period.

The property

The development building in Flushing has 22,532 square feet of built space and 239,960 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 239,960 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 213 feet and is 327 feet deep with a total lot size of 69,756 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R7-1 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.9 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 five DOB violations 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 Flushing, The bulk, or 45 percent of the 37.7 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space. In sales, Flushing has 2.7 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $804.9 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 2nd highest in Queens. For development, Flushing has 2.2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 5th highest in Queens. It had 2.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 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 this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the seven commercial properties representing 196,156 square feet of the 656,288 square feet. The identified owner is Lefrak.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 96 percent of the 656,288 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with development buildings next occupying 3 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Jianfei Chen owned at least three commercial properties with 51 residential units in New York City with 49,264 square feet and a city-determined market value of $9.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $41.3 million in debt, borrowed from W Financial and Arbor Realty Trust. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 100 percent of the 49,264 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with development properties next occupying 0 percent of the space. They are all located in Queens.
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Wei Guo owned at least one commercial property with two residential units in New York City with 3,600 square feet and a city-determined market value of $1.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single mixed-use property. It is located in Brooklyn.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that NYC School Construction Authority owned at least 22 commercial properties in New York City with 338,772 square feet and a city-determined market value of $66.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 38 percent of the 338,772 square feet of built space are office properties, with specialty properties next occupying 34 percent of the space. The bulk, or 72 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Brooklyn next at 23 percent of the space.

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