Montperia, JLS sign $15.1M construction loan with Cathay for 33-unit LIC project

Montperia Group and JLS Group Construction through the entity 27 Hunter LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender Cathay Bank through the entity Cathay Bank valued at $15.1 million for the 33-unit development project at 42-76 Hunter Street in Long Island City, Queens.
On these lots, there is one active new building construction project, Q01045957, for a 33-unit, 27,185 square-foot residential (R-2) building. The project was submitted by Montperia’s related company, Ampiera Group and filed by Alex Lau with plans filed May 6, 2024 and permitted March 27, 2025.
The deal closed on June 6, 2025 and was recorded on June 18, 2025. The four properties have 1,180 square feet of built space and 21,973 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 23,155 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $12,796 and the price per buildable square foot is $652 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 Montperia Group and JLS Group Construction was Jeff Zheng , Steven Li , and Alex Lau .

The property

The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-5/R7-3 which allows for up to 5 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $50 in OATH penalties in the last year.

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 3.7 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $994.2 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the highest in Queens. For development, Long Island City is the 8th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 5.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 9 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 42-53 27th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 11 commercial properties representing zero square feet of the 18,370 square feet. The largest owner is ZL Capital, followed by Steven Li and then Xi Zhao.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 66,627 square feet. The largest is a 51-unit, 39,442 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by ZL Capital and filed by Yu Liu with plans filed September 4, 2020 and permitted September 7, 2021. The second largest is a 33-unit, 27,185 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Ampiera Group and filed by Alex Lau with plans filed May 6, 2024 and permitted February 13, 2025.

The majority, or 62 percent of the 18,370 square feet of built space are office buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 17 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Montperia Group owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 74,105 square feet and a city-determined market value of $8.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $25 million in debt, borrowed from Fiona Wu. The portfolio consists of at least a single specialty property. It is located in Queens.

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