real estate BY LIAM LA GUERRE Astoria waterfront property sells for $57m Astoria’s waterfront may get even more crowded. Real estate investor and developer Shibber Khan bought a plot of land at 11-12 30th Dr., which has up to 460,000 buildable square feet, for $57 million, according to a published report. Vernon Realty Associates is the seller. Currently, a one-story warehouse occupied by Bohea Associates sits on the land, but the property can have residential buildings of up to 10 stories, Crain’s reported. The sale comes as a team of developers led by Alma Realty is trying to get approvals from the city for its Astoria Cove project and the Durst Organization paid $100 million to take over the Hallets Point development. Townhouses planned for recently sold LIC sites GDC Properties is hoping to construct townhouse developments at two connecting sites in Long Island City that it recently purchased, according to a published report. The townhouses will be on 11-22 45th Rd. and 45-35 11th St., the Commercial Observer reported. The developer snatched up the sites for a combined $44 million. Eunhasu Corporation sold a one-story warehouse at 45th Road to GDC for $37 million and Kyu Heung Park sold a factory on 11th Street to the firm for $7 million, according to city records. According to the Observer, GDC expects the townhouses to be complete in 18 months. Demolition permits have already been filed with the Department of Buildings for the existing structures on both sites. Chart courtesy of Modern Spaces LIC LAND PRICES NEARLY HIT $300 PER BUILDABLE SQUARE FOOT Soaring land prices in Long Island City are hitting record highs for the neighborhood, according to the Moderns Spaces 3Q report released Oct. 16. The price per buildable square in LIC jumped to an unheard of $250-$300 in this past quarter for some properties, the report said. The average land prices are above $200 in prime areas. The price surge is mainly due to the demand for bigger projects aimed at larger family-size apartments, according to the report. “The properties that are being acquired at those price points will most likely all be condos as they don’t make financial sense as a rental product with that high of a land base,” the report said. “But as condo prices rise in Manhattan and in Brooklyn, it’s naturally going to drive the buyer who is getting priced out of the areas to Long Island City or Queens as a whole.” Meanwhile, for commercial and investment properties, the report found that in south Long Island City — areas near the waterfront, Hunter’s Point, Court Square, and Queens Plaza — land values eclipsed an average of more than $200 per buildable square foot and some properties have hit prices almost as high as $300. But Modern Spaces predicts this trend will not continue. “Despite demand being as strong as it has ever been, we predict the market will level in the $225–$250 per buildable square foot range depending on exact location,” the report said. Although land prices in Astoria have not hit an average of $200 per buildable square foot yet, not to be left too far behind, land prices in the neighborhood doubled in the past year with some properties eclipsing $200 per buildable square foot, according to the report.
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