SB Development signs $83M construction loan with iCross for 190-unit project in LIC

SB Development Group through the entity LIC 40th Avenue Owner LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender iCross Capital through the entity Elite 101 LLC valued at $83 million for the 190-unit project at 29-26 40th Avenue in Long Island City, Queens.
On the lot, there is one active new building construction project, Q00682330, for a 190-unit, 129,305-square-foot residential (R-2) building. The project was submitted by SB Development Group and filed by Joseph Stern with plans filed March 4, 2022 and permitted July 16, 2024.
The deal closed on August 6, 2024 and was recorded on August 23, 2024. The prior lender was iCross Capital which held debt that had an original loan amount of $16.7 million.

The project has a total of 129,305 zoning square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per zoning square foot is $642 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 owner bought the property on July 27, 2022, for $19 million. The signatory for SB Development Group was Joseph Stern. The signatory for iCross Capital was Lily Guo. SB Development is led by Joseph Stern and Roni Benjamini.

The property

The industrial building in Long Island City has 28,849 square feet of built space and 58,655 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 87,545 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 79 feet and is 231 feet deep with a total lot size of 17,509 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-3/R7X which allows for up to 5 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing and up to 5 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.8 million. The most recent loan totaled $16.7 million and was provided by iCross Capital on November 9, 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 $30,000 in ECB penalties and $32,555 in OATH penalties in the last year.

The neighborhood

In Long Island City, The bulk, or 32 percent of the 60.2 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 the 8th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.1 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Long Island City has 4.1 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the highest in Queens. It had 4.5 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. There were three pre-foreclosure suit filed among other industrial buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 12 of the 15 commercial properties representing 275,561 square feet of the 349,749 square feet. The largest owner is Cubesmart, followed by Anjali Gopalani and then Yali Li.
On the tax block, there were three new building construction projects totaling 41,414 square feet. The largest is a 190-unit residential (R-2) building submitted by SB Development Group and filed by Joseph Stern with plans filed March 4, 2022 and permitted December 11, 2023. The second largest is a 5,870 square-foot mercantile (M) building submitted by Kyong Park with plans filed February 12, 2016 and permitted August 14, 2019.

The majority, or 45 percent of the 349,749 square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 43 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that SB Development Group owned at least five commercial properties with 87 residential units in New York City with 124,963 square feet and a city-determined market value of $8.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 73 percent of the 124,963 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with industrial properties next occupying 27 percent of the space. They are all located in Queens.

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