Success Academy pays $30M for property in Jamaica

Success Academy through the entity 153 Hillside Ave., LLC paid $30 million to Carol Joy Family Properties LLC and C. Joy Family Properties LLC for 11 properties including the industrial building (G8) at 153-12 Hillside Avenue and 153-01 Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Queens.
The deal closed on March 14, 2023 and was recorded on March 15, 2023. The 11 properties have 24,900 square feet of built space and 242,294 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 267,194 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per buildable square foot is $112 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 the seller was Scott Perlstein, and for the buyer was Jason Niederkorn.

Because multiple properties have been transacted, some of the following sections will follow the property with the largest assessed value, which in this case, is the property on 153-12 Hillside Avenue.

The property

The parcel has two buildings with frontage of 125 feet and is 177 feet deep with a total lot size of 23,136 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R7A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.1 million.
The parcel has frontage of 55 feet and is 80 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,528 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R7A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $419,000.
The parcel has frontage of 40 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,000 square feet. The zoning is R7A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $370,000.

Violations and lawsuits

The properties were involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $13.5 million judgment concerning a disputed occupancy filed on April 9, 2021. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received four DOB violations, $18,750 in ECB penalties, and $25,150 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Jamaica, The bulk, or 30 percent of the 28 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space. In sales, Jamaica has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $350.1 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 5th highest in Queens. For development, Jamaica has 3.7 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 3rd highest in Queens. It had 3.7 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 13 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 18,464 square feet. It is a 21-unit, 18,464 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Dong Guo with plans filed April 10, 2021 and permitted June 8, 2022.

The majority, or 58 percent of the 176,932 square feet of built space are specialty buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space.

Correction: A prior version of this article incorrectly reported the total buildable as-of-right.

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