Clutter sells LIC storage building for $27.2M, Life Storage new operator

The entity Northern Boulevard Self Storage Owner, LLC paid $27.2 million to Clutter through the entity 30-46 Northern Blvd Storage LLC for the industrial building (E7) at 30-46 Northern Boulevard in Long Island City, Queens. Life Storage recently added the property to its website as a storage location. PincusCo could not determine the true ownership behind the buyer entity.
The deal closed on April 14, 2023 and was recorded on April 19, 2023. The property has 133,512 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $203 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.)
Clutter bought the property on September 19, 2019, for $32.3 million. The signatory for Clutter was Rahul Gandhi. The buyer is anonymous behind an LLC.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Life Storage purchased two properties in two transactions for a total of $34.6 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Clutter had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The 133,512-square-foot property generated revenue of $3 million or $23 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The industrial building in Long Island City has 133,512 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 148 feet and is 169 feet deep with a total lot size of 19,849 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-5 which allows for up to 5 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $17.3 million. The most recent loan totaled $37.8 million and was provided by FS Investments on September 9, 2021.

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 $1,250 in ECB penalties and $1,250 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on July 1, 2015. 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 9th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.7 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Long Island City is the 4th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 9.1 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.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 17 commercial properties representing 133,512 square feet of the 828,447 square feet. The largest owner is Steven Newman, followed by LIRR and then Clutter.
On the tax block, there were five new building construction projects totaling 1,168,923 square feet. The largest is a 518-unit, 473,706 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Largavista Companies and filed by Adam Good with plans filed December 8, 2021 and permitted April 15, 2022. The second largest is a 315,626 square-foot business (B) building submitted by Alma Realty and filed by Efstathios Valiotis with plans filed February 5, 2016 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 64 percent of the 828,447 square feet of built space are office buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Clutter owned at least three commercial properties in New York City with 217,512 square feet and a city-determined market value of None. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $139.3 million in debt, borrowed from Colony Capital and FS Investments. Within the portfolio, all identified are industrial properties. The bulk, or 61 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Brooklyn next at 39 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Life Storage owned at least four commercial properties in New York City with 332,315 square feet. The portfolio has $14.4 million in debt, borrowed from Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance. Within the portfolio, all identified are industrial properties. The bulk, or 64 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Brooklyn next at 21 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link