Prologis buys TF Cornerstone’s Astoria development site for $35M

By Varvara Budetti

Prologis picked up another Queens industrial site, this one for $35 million, adding to its New York City portfolio. Prior to this, the San Francisco-based logistics company had spent $265 million acquiring properties through nine transactions over the past two years in the city.

In this latest acquisition, the company purchased a 70,200 square feet development site at 38-21 12th Street in Astoria which has 351,000 square feet of development rights. The deal closed on November 3, 2021 and was recorded on November 16, 2021.

This follows Prologis’s $42.7 million purchase of 46-81 Metropolitan Avenue in June as well as the $37.6 million purchase of 18-51 Flushing Avenue in January 2020, and the $51 million purchase of 48-00 Grand Avenue the previous November.

TF Cornerstone bought the site in 2018 for $25.5 million. At that time it had a one-story industrial building but according to a recent Pinnacle Realty of New York listing for the site, the buildings have been demolished.

Bunny Escava and Isaac Setton of Kassin Sabbagh Realty represented the buyer and seller on the transaction.

The Real Deal reported in 2018 that a 152-key hotel was previously rumored as planned for the site, but TF Cornerstone released a statement at the time saying the company has no plans to change the zoning from industrial use.

The property has 0 square feet of built space and 351,000 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 351,000 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per buildable square foot is $99 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.)

Plans for a 42,555 square-foot storage (S-2) were filed on September 7, 2018.

Within a 400-foot radius of 38-21 12th Street, PincusCo identified three commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those three items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was a permit issued on August 5, 2020 for the $1.9 million renovation of 19,669-square-foot S-1 building with no residential units at 38-50 21st Street.

Of those three items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $24.2 million. The most recent of the two was United Construction & Development Group which borrowed $15.4 million from Amerant Bank secured by the 19,669-square-foot, one-unit retail building (K1) on 38-50 21st Street on October 9, 2020.

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