McSam Hotel Group signs $48M construction loan for 351-key hotel near JFK

McSam Hotel Group through the entity JFK Fiona 34 LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender Webster Bank valued at $48 million for the development of a 351-room hotel project (H3) at 143-02 135th Avenue in South Ozone Park, Queens. The site is among a cluster of existing and under-development hotels across the Belt Parkway from John F. Kennedy International Airport.

This is for job number Q00487394 (see the zoning document on this link), which is a proposed 129,415-square-foot Hyatt Place and Hyatt House hotel with 14 stories.
The deal closed on May 22, 2025 and was recorded on June 10, 2025. The prior lender was Jemm Capital Partners which held debt that had an original loan amount of $10.5 million. The property has zero square feet of built space and 129,415 square feet of planned zoning development, according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per planned zoning development is $371. (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 McSam Hotel Group was Sam Chang . The signatory for Webster Bank was Michael Savarese.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 182 feet and is 80 feet deep with a total lot size of 16,553 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C4-2 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 $1.3 million. The most recent loan totaled $58.1 million and was provided by Jemm Lending on December 27, 2023.

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.

The neighborhood

In South Ozone Park, The bulk, or 27 percent of the 6.3 million square feet of commercial built space are mixed-use buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 26 percent of the space. In sales, South Ozone Park has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $266.3 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 7th highest in Queens. For development, South Ozone Park has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 735,461 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 six commercial properties representing 648,088 square feet of the 648,088 square feet. The largest owner is Soundview Real Estate Partners, followed by Slate Property Group and then Ronnie Gross.
On the tax block, there were five new building construction projects totaling 628,369 square feet. The largest is a 360-unit, 162,504 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Chartwell Hospitality and filed by Robert Schaedle Iii with plans filed December 8, 2015 and permitted April 9, 2019. The second largest is a 360-unit, 160,551 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Chartwell Hospitality and filed by Robert Schaedle Iii with plans filed December 8, 2015 and permitted August 2, 2018.

The majority, or 100 percent of the 648,088 square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 0 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Mcsam Hotel Group owned at least 24 commercial properties with 17 residential units in New York City with 1,092,980 square feet and a city-determined market value of $251.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 92 percent of the 1,092,980 square feet of built space are hotel properties, with industrial properties next occupying 3 percent of the space. The bulk, or 84 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Queens next at 16 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link