NuVerse, Sunlight submit $161M condo plan for 122 units in Astoria

NuVerse Advisors and Sunlight Development submitted a $161 million condominium plan for a 122-unit project at 30-55 Vernon Boulevard in Astoria, Queens.

On the tax lot, the most recent condominium plan was filed by 3055 Vernon LLC to create 122 residential units and 2 commercial units in a building at 30-55 Vernon Boulevard in Astoria, Queens, called Nusun Vernon that has a $160.9 million sellout, according to a November 3, 2023 submission to the New York State Attorney General.

As for the city’s Department of Buildings plans, Vicki Saali of 3055 Vernon LLC submitted a major alteration application for a renovation of 30-55 Vernon Boulevard in Astoria, Queens. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on October 20, 2022 under job number Q00795057. It calls for the increase in size of the building from a two-story building with no dwelling units to a building with 118 dwelling units. The project is described in the filing as: proposed 9 story mix-use building with horizontal and vertical enlargement.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 179 feet and is 175 feet deep with a total lot size of 37,115 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R5B which allows for up to 1.35 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2.9 million. The most recent loan totaled $65.3 million and was provided by Bank Hapoalim on June 20, 2023.

Prior sales and revenue

This property was sold with 4 other properties by Eastone Equities for $25 million to Sunlight Development on August 25, 2022.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received five DOB violations, $6,875 in ECB penalties, and $9,700 in OATH penalties in the last year.

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

The neighborhood

In Astoria, The bulk, or 36 percent of the 40.2 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 31 percent of the space. In sales, Astoria has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $1.1 billion in sales volume in the last two years and is the 2nd highest in Queens. For development, Astoria has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 4th highest in Queens. It had 3.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 8 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other development buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the five commercial properties representing 24,000 square feet of the 27,470 square feet. The two identified owners are NuVerse Advisors and Sunlight Development. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that NuVerse Advisors owned at least four commercial properties with 148 residential units in New York City with 290,696 square feet and a city-determined market value of $9.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 64 percent of the 290,696 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with O8 properties next occupying 28 percent of the space. They are all located in Queens.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 11-07 30 Drive, PincusCo identified two commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. One of those two items was a sale which Cape Advisors bought the 0-square-foot, 151-unit rental (D1) on 11-28 30th Drive and two other properties for $155.3 million from Pioneer Group on April 27, 2022. One of those two items was a loan which Cape Advisors borrowed $212 million from AIG and Blackstone Group secured by the 0-square-foot, 151-unit rental (D1) on 11-28 30th Drive and two other properties on December 28, 2022.

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