ZD Jasper Realty pays $10.4M for 43-unit dev site in Long Island City

ZD Jasper Realty through the entity 23-17 41 Ave Holding LLC paid $10.4 million to Slavko Bernic through the entity 40-44 24th Street, LLC for 39-unit residential elevator building (D6) at 23-17 41st Avenue in Long Island City, Queens.

On the lot, there is one active new building construction project for a 43-unit, 37,568 square-foot R-2 building. The project was developed by Jasper Wu with plans filed November 2, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The deal closed on November 7, 2022 and was recorded on November 18, 2022. The property has 49,462 square feet of built space according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $209 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 Slavko Bernic was Slavko Bernic. The signatory for ZD Jasper Realty was Jasper Wu.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer ZD Jasper Realty purchased eight properties in three transactions for a total of $107.4 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Slavko Bernic had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The 23-17 41st Avenue parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 10,000 square feet. The zoning is M1-2/R6A which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing and up to 3 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $2 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the 19 commercial properties representing 7,852 square feet of the 122,048 square feet. The two identified owners are Matthew Schwartz 30-01 and Rothna Begum.
On the tax block, there were three new building construction projects totaling 55,045 square feet. The largest is a 43-unit, 37,568-square-foot R-2 building developed by Jasper Wu with plans filed November 2, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.The second largest is a 14,967-square-foot A-3 building developed by Clifford Sawyer with plans filed August 17, 2018 and permitted June 10, 2020.

The majority, or 43 percent of the 115,608 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 36 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Slavko Bernic owned at least four commercial properties in New York City with 82,560 square feet and a city-determined market value of $25 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $20.2 million in debt, borrowed from JPMorgan Chase and PIMCO. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 82 percent of the 82,560 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 18 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that ZD Jasper Realty owned at least 12 commercial properties in New York City with 167,138 square feet and a city-determined market value of $38.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 62 percent of the 167,138 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with industrial properties next occupying 38 percent of the space. The bulk, or 74 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Manhattan next at 26 percent of the space.

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