F&T Group signs $14.2M condo inventory loan for 10 unsold units in Flushing

F&T Group through the entity Tangram Tower Sponsor LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Shanghai Commercial Bank valued at $14.2 million for 10 unsold units at 37-12 Prince Street in Flushing, Queens.
The deal closed on September 19, 2022 and was recorded on October 11, 2022. The 10 properties have 20,006 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $710 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 F&T Group was Sunny Chiu. This is a condo inventory loan for unsold condo units.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 37-12 Prince Street.

The property

The 37-12 Prince Street parcel has a total lot size of 3,069 square feet. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $635,515.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have not received any significant violations in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot buildings, one out of the 10 buildings received an initial certificate of occupancy in the last ten years. On these lots, there is one active new building construction project for a 77,228 square-foot B building. The project was developed by Sunny Chiu with plans filed June 27, 2016 and permitted June 27, 2017.

The neighborhood

In Flushing, the bulk, or 45 percent of the 37.8 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space. In sales, Flushing has 1.6 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $542.6 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 4th highest in Queens. For development, Flushing has 2.8 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 5th highest in Queens. It had 2.7 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 7 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 37-12 Prince Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of 27 of the 109 commercial properties representing 746,265 square feet of the 949,987 square feet. The largest owner is Shanghai Construction Group, followed by F&T Group and then Johnson Chen.
On the tax block, there were five new building construction projects totaling 2,863,248 square feet. The largest is a 397-unit, 752,283-square-foot R-2 building developed by Sunny Chiu with plans filed August 29, 2014 and it has not been permitted yet.The second largest is a 338-unit, 681,399-square-foot R-1 building developed by Sunny Chiu with plans filed March 13, 2015 and permitted January 25, 2019.

The majority, or 31 percent of the 137,917 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 30 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that F&T Group owned at least 13 commercial properties in New York City with 321,093 square feet and a city-determined market value of $73.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $368.1 million in debt, borrowed from Shanghai Commercial Bank and Cathay Bank. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 37 percent of the 321,093 square feet of built space are rental condo properties, with hotel properties next occupying 34 percent of the space. They are all located in Queens.

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