United Construction & Development signs $88M construction loan for Flushing development

United Construction & Development Group through the entity C & G Empire Realty, LLC as borrower signed a new construction loan with lender Centennial Bank valued at $88 million for the 119-unit residential elevator development at 134-03 35th Avenue in Flushing, Queens.
The deal closed on February 1, 2022 and was recorded on March 24, 2022. The prior lender was Maspeth Federal Savings and Loan Association which held debt that had an original loan amount of $17 million. The property has 304,804 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $288 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 United Construction & Development Group was Chris Jiashu Xu. Jiashu Xu is the founder and president of United Construction & Development Group.

The property

The 134-03 35th Avenue parcel has frontage of 207 feet and is 259 feet deep with a total lot size of 43,147 square feet. 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 $6.1 million.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was not involved in any lawsuits or bankruptcies in the past years. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received one DOB violation, $1,250 in ECB penalties, and $1,450 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On these lots, there is one active new building construction project for a 119-unit, 205,168-square-foot R-2 building. The project was developed by Jiashu Xu with plans filed December 4, 2014 and it has not been permitted yet.

The neighborhood

In Flushing, the bulk, or 39 percent of the 78.7 million square feet of commercial built space are residential elevator buildings, with 1-4 family buildings next occupying 29 percent of the space. In sales, Flushing has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $312.4 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 4th highest in Queens. For development, Flushing has 2.9 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 5th highest in Queens. It had 2.6 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 3 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 13 of the 37 commercial properties representing 140,555 square feet of the 560,535 square feet. The two identified owners are Century Development Group and M8g Realty LLC. There are four active new building construction projects totaling 429,370 square feet. The largest is a 119-unit, 205,168-square-foot R-2 building developed by Jia Shu Xu with plans filed December 4, 2014 and it has not been permitted yet.The second largest is a 100-unit, 201,840-square-foot R-1 building developed by George Xu with plans filed September 13, 2013 and permitted June 27, 2016.

The majority, or 67 percent of the 451,802 square feet of built space are residential elevator buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database, which is incomplete, currently tracks nine commercial properties owned by United Construction & Development Group with 455,608 square feet and a city-determined market value of $67.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $157.9 million in debt, with top three lenders as Bank of China, Bank Hapoalim, and Amerant Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 72 percent of the 455,608 square feet of built space are office properties, with industrial properties next occupying 24 percent of the space. They are all located in Queens.

Surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 134-03 35th Avenue, Pincusco identified seven commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months.
Of those seven items, three were sales above $5 million totaling $26.2 million. The most recent of the three was Kin Chau Cheng which bought the 28,728-square-foot development site (M1) on 135-25 Northern Boulevard for $8 million from Ken Huang on January 7, 2022.
Of those seven items, four were loans above $5 million totaling $28 million. The most recent of the four was Sunlight Development which borrowed $5.5 million from Amerasia Bank secured by the 28,728-square-foot development site (M1) on 135-25 Northern Boulevard on January 26, 2022.

Direct link to Acris document. link