Zhou Xu plans 25-unit project in Astoria

Zhou Xu submitted a new building construction project for a 25-unit, 26,326 square-foot residential (R-2) building at 25-86 31st Street in Astoria, Queens. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on August 1, 2023 under job number Q00902773. It calls for the construction of a seven-story building. The project is described in the filing as: to erect new six-story mixed-use building with 25 residential units. The architect is Angelo Ng & Anthony Ng Architects.
This is the largest new building project Zhou Zu has filed of the four projects of eight units or more since 2016.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 75 feet deep with a total lot size of 1,874 square feet. The zoning is C4-3 which allows for up to 3.4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 2.43 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.1 million.

Prior sales and revenue

This property was sold for $1.2 million on December 20, 2022.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

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

The neighborhood

In Astoria, The bulk, or 36 percent of the 40.2 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 31 percent of the space. In sales, Astoria has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $1.1 billion in sales volume in the last two years and is the 2nd highest in Queens. For development, Astoria has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 4th highest in Queens. It had 3.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 8 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 16 of the 35 commercial properties representing 110,392 square feet of the 189,939 square feet. The largest owner is Helen Fotinakopoulos, followed by Ines Kucich and then James Tsempelis. On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 35,997 square feet. The largest is a 25-unit, 26,326 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Zhou Xu with plans filed August 1, 2023 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 12-unit, 9,671 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Eleni Dalagiorgou with plans filed December 14, 2018 and permitted August 11, 2021.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 25-86 31 Street, PincusCo identified five commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those five items, one was in new building development. It was a new building permit issued on September 8, 2021 for a 11,251-square-foot residential (R-2) building with 16 residential units at 31-17 28th Avenue. Of those five items, two were sales above $5 million totaling $16.3 million. The most recent of the two was Tina Gasparre which bought the 12,550-square-foot, one-unit single-family house (A2) on 26-37 30th Street and three other properties for $10.5 million from Patricia Consentino on February 10, 2023. Of those five items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $29 million. The most recent of the two was Joseph Grgas in which borrowed $9 million from First Republic Bank secured by the 21,176-square-foot, 22-unit rental (D1) on 25-77 31st Street on October 12, 2022.

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