Emerald Creek files $11.8M pre-foreclosure at LIC commercial building

Lender Emerald Creek Capital filed an $11.8 million pre-foreclosure action against the owner of the 64,050-square-foot commercial building at 36-01 37th Avenue in Long Island City, Queens.

The property owner Shafquat Chaudhary bought the building in January 1998 through the entity Elite R.E. Corp. for $1.5 million, and over the years refinanced the property multiple times, including in November 2019, when he borrowed $11.8 million from Emerald Creek Capital. In September 2020 he filed plans to build a 10-story building at the location. Then in September 2023 he borrowed $4 million in a subordinate loan from Rosenthal & Rosenthal.

The court filing alleges the Emerald Creek Capital loan is in default because it was not repaid on the extended maturity date of November 7, 2023.

Court filings represent the position of one party and are not necessarily accurate or complete.

The property

The industrial building in Long Island City has 64,050 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 200 feet and is 133 feet deep with a total lot size of 28,091 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-1 which allows for up to 1 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $5.9 million. The most recent loan totaled $11.8 million and was provided by Emerald Creek Capital on November 7, 2019.

Prior sales and revenue

The 64,050-square-foot property generated revenue of $1.2 million or $18 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received four DOB violations in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

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 7.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 12 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 18 commercial properties representing 126,470 square feet of the 199,473 square feet. The largest owner is Joshua Elstein, followed by Raymond Mastroianni and then Ruth Stein. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Shafquat Chaudhary owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 57,820 square feet and a city-determined market value of $5.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $11.8 million in debt, borrowed from Emerald Creek Capital. The portfolio consists of at least a single industrial property. It is located in Queens.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 36-73 36 Street, PincusCo identified three commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. One of those three items was a sale which Jeffrey Zwick & Associates registered bought the 80,200-square-foot, 123-unit hotel (H9) on 35-02 37th Avenue for $35.7 million from The Collective on August 14, 2023. Of those three items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $34.4 million. The most recent of the two was Jeffrey Zwick & Associates registered in which borrowed $29.1 million from Popular Bank secured by the 80,200-square-foot, 123-unit hotel (H9) on 35-02 37th Avenue on August 14, 2023.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.