Wei Chen pays $8.4M for dev site in LIC

Wei Chen through the entity 1037 Development LLC paid $8.4 million to Christopher Scala through the entity 10-37 49th Ave. Corp. for the industrial building (E2) at 10-45 49th Avenue and the office building (O5) at 10-37 49th Avenue in Long Island City, Queens. The expected use is ground up development.
The deal closed on November 22, 2024 and was recorded on December 5, 2024. The two properties have 6,056 square feet of built space and 17,940 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 24,000 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,387 and the price per buildable square foot is $350 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 Christopher Scala was Christopher Scala. The signatory for Wei Chen was Wei Chen. The contract date was May 13, 2024.

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 10-37 49th Avenue.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Wei Chen had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Christopher Scala had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The office building in Long Island City has 6,056 square feet of built space and 17,940 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 24,000 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 60 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 6,000 square feet. The zoning is M1-4/R6B which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing and up to 2 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $455,000.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have not received any significant violations 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 Long Island City, The bulk, or 32 percent of the 60.1 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 is the 7th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 5.7 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 9 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On the tax block of 10-37 49th Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the 13 commercial properties representing 32,193 square feet of the 62,051 square feet. The largest owner is Evans Panagoulias, followed by Rey J. Nieto and then Yan Fen Hong.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 37 percent of the 62,051 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 35 percent of the space.

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