Sunlight Development submits $268.7M condo plan in Flushing, city’s second-highest in 2023

Sunlight Development Group submitted a condominium plan with a total sellout of $268.7 million, for a 127-unit project in Flushing, Queens, at 138-18 Northern Boulevard, between Union and Bowne streets. It is unclear how many of those units are residential, as there is a conflict between the condo plan and the latest city Department of Buildings plans. The latest DOB plan shows 68 residential units, in a mixed-use project with a large commercial component.

This is the second-most expensive condominium plan disclosed so far for 2023. The most expensive is Elad Group’s 201 East 74th Street in Lenox Hill with a total sellout of $281.6 million, submitted in January 2023. However, developers can submit condo plans without the sellout price disclosed, so there could be a more expensive plan revealed later.

Sunlight Development is an active buyer, having completed nine transactions for development parcels since 2021 totaling $153 million, with eight in Queens and one in Brooklyn.

On the tax lot, the most recent condominium plan was filed by Jingang Northern LLC to create 127 residential units and 51 commercial units in a building at 138-18 Northern Boulevard in Flushing, Queens, called Northern Center Condominium that has a $268.7 million sellout, according to an December 15, 2023 submission to the New York State Attorney General. The principal of the sponsor, Jingjang Northern LLC, was Linlin Zhou. (In the plan submission, the entity name was written as Jinggng Northern LLC, which appears to be a misspelling of Jingang Northern LLC. PincusCo could find no record of the entity Jinggng Northern LLC in state corporation filings. The name Jingjang Northern LLC is also used for this property in city land records, which also does not appear in state corporation filings.)

Linzhong Zhuo of Sunlight Development Group submitted a new building construction project for a 125-unit, residential (R-2) building at 138-32 Northern Boulevard. The plan was filed on October 29, 2022. It calls for the construction of a 197-foot tall, 17-story building and was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings under job number Q08026754. The project is described in the filing as: proposed 17 story with cellar residential use new building.

That job number now shows a nine-story 50,964-square-foot residential building with only 68 residential units, and a related nine-story 41,895-square-foot community facility development and a two-story 36,310-square-foot retail development.

The property

The lot is irregular. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.43 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $10.1 million. The most recent loan totaled $28 million and was provided by S3 Capital on October 14, 2022.

Prior sales and revenue

This property was sold by Diane Macari for $48 million to Sunlight Development on October 14, 2022.

The 13,702-square-foot property generated revenue of $902,081 or $66 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received $34,375 in ECB penalties in the last year.

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

The neighborhood

In Flushing, The bulk, or 45 percent of the 37.7 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space. In sales, Flushing has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $822.4 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 3rd highest in Queens. For development, Flushing has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 5th highest in Queens. It had 1.8 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 5 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 two of the 11 commercial properties representing 92,926 square feet of the 240,496 square feet. The two identified owners are Steven Frey and Sunlight Development. On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 13,832 square feet. The largest is a 125-unit residential (R-2) building submitted by Sunlight Development Group and filed by Linzhong Zhuo with plans filed October 29, 2022 and permitted October 5, 2023. The second largest is a business (B) building submitted by Linzhong Zhuo with plans filed October 28, 2022 and permitted October 5, 2023.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Sunlight Development owned at least five commercial properties with 23 residential units in New York City with 48,347 square feet and a city-determined market value of $18.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $36.4 million in debt, borrowed from S3 Capital. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 72 percent of the 48,347 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with retail properties next occupying 28 percent of the space. They are all located in Queens.

The surrounding

This is the first commercial real estate event of interest identified within the 400-foot radius of 138-38 Northern Boulevard in the past 24 months.

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