Jian Wu Chen pays $6.8M for Flushing retail, paid $67M for Flushing Modell’s in 2021

Jian Wu Chen and Xiao Chu Zhou through the entity C&Z Main LLC paid $6.8 million to Ming-Yuan Chen through the entity 36-29/31 Main Street Corp. for the retail building (O5) at 36-29 Main Street in Flushing, Queens.
The deal closed on March 30, 2023 and was recorded on April 12, 2023. The property has 9,460 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $718 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 Ming-Yuan Chen was Ming-Yuan Chen. The signatory for Jian Wu Chen and Xiao Chu Zhou was Jian Wu Chen.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Jian Wu Chen purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $67 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Ming-Yuan Chen had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The 9,460-square-foot property generated revenue of $573,749 or $61 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The retail building in Flushing has 9,460 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 36 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 3,559 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-3 which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 2.43 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.2 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 not received any significant violations in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on June 9, 2017. 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 2.1 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $736.4 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 4th highest in Queens. For development, Flushing has 2.4 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 5th highest in Queens. It had 2.5 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 this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 11 of the 56 commercial properties representing 271,897 square feet of the 566,670 square feet. The largest owner is Yue Mei Song, followed by New York Police Department and then Hang Dong Zhang.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 110,424 square feet. The largest is a 72,563 square-foot business (B) building submitted by Tian Ji Li with plans filed March 29, 2021 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a seven-unit, 37,861 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Zhao Jiang with plans filed January 12, 2017 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 34 percent of the 566,670 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 26 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Jian Wu Chen owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 27,000 square feet and a city-determined market value of None. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $42 million in debt, borrowed from CTBC Bank. The portfolio consists of at least a single mixed-use property. It is located in Queens.
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Xiao Chu Zhou owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 8,700 square feet and a city-determined market value of None. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $12 million in debt, borrowed from CTBC Bank. The portfolio consists of at least a single mixed-use property. It is located in Queens.

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