Xin Xiang Lin in contract to pay $39.75M for 121K Flushing dev site

The developer Xin Xiang Lin signed a contract to pay $39.75 million to the First Korean Church of New York for the parcels 35-14 Parsons Boulevard and 35-06 Parsons Boulevard in Flushing, Queens. The contract, dated June 29, 2022, was disclosed in a petition the church filed yesterday in Queens State Supreme Court as part of a required process that nonprofits follow when selling significant assets.

The brokers were agents at the firms East Coast Realtors, CANA Realty and Remax 1st Choice, according to the petition. A listing on Crexi says the properties have 121,500 square feet of buildable development rights. “These lots are great locations for building buildings for hospitals or any facilities,” the listing says.

According to the petition, “By way of background, the Properties were initially acquired by the Church in 1999 and used as a seminary and church (35-06 Parsons Boulevard) and as a parking lot (35-14 Parsons Boulevard). At that time, the Church had a total congregation of approximately 31 members. The building structures on the two parcels have become old and have been shuttered due to substantial physical deterioration making it unsafe for any occupancy and/or any use thereof. The Church does not have the available cash to, inter alia, rebuild the church and/or build a new monastery and had, accordingly, decided to sell the Property.”

A prior intended buyer, Johnson Jiang, had sought to purchase the properties nearly 10 years ago based on an October 1, 2014 contract, but that contract was deemed by state courts to be unenforceable and that sale did not go through, according to court records. A more recent attempt to sell the property for $41.2 million was abandoned because of Covid, the petition says.

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Xin Xiang Lin owned at least three commercial properties with 171,471 square feet, 139 residential units and a city-determined market value of $13.2 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $87.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as Cathay Bank, Popular Bank, and Amerasia Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 97 percent of the 171,471 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 3 percent of the space. The bulk, or 97 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Manhattan next at 3 percent of the space. LINK