26 THE QUEENS COURIER • QUEENS BUSINESS • JANUARY 10, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
queens business
Amazon deal sparks even bigger boom for LIC real estate broker
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
It is an amazing time for Modern
Spaces, the Long Island City-based real
estate brokerage which just turned ten
years old and was in the process of a
major expansion before Amazon would
move its HQ2 campus to the neighborhood.
Th e company began in a storefront
offi ce on Vernon Boulevard and somehow
survived the economic crisis in 2008
and now its just weeks away from moving
into a new 8,000-square-foot headquarters
on 46th Avenue.
“It will have room for more than
40 people, new staff and new agents,”
Modern Spaces Co-founder and CEO
Eric Benaim said. “It was in the works
way before the Amazon announcement
and it’s funny, my wife Stephanie and I
were touring the new site and she said to
me ‘If you build it they will come,’ and
they did.”
Word of the Amazon deal hit the street
days before the formal Nov. 14 announcement,
and Modern Spaces became inundated
with calls. Benaim even had to
leave his son’s birthday party because his
agents were calling and texting him.
“Since a couple of days before the
announcement it’s been amazing,”
Benaim said. “It only slowed a bit this
week because of New Year’s.”
Th e company has received more than
700 inquiries in that time in Skyline
Tower, a 802-unit condominium highrise
now under construction in Court
Square across 44th Drive from Citi
Tower.
“It’s going to be the tallest building in
Queens and the borough’s fi rst billion
dollar tower,” Benaim said. “It will be the
2nd largest condo project ever in New
York City. All that right across the street
from Citi Tower which Amazon is taking
over this year as their advanced team
moves in. I hear they’re going to change
the name to Amazon Tower.”
Back in late July 2008, when Benaim
and his business partner Ted Kokkoris
started Modern Spaces, running the business
without a website, and just months
before Lehman Brothers fi led for bankruptcy,
causing the collapse on Wall
Street, resulting in hardships for his
fl edgling business.
“It seemed like the world was going to
end,” Benaim recalled. With no money
in the bank the two borrowed money
from family to keep Modern Spaces afl oat
during its “dark winter.”
Now the full-service company, which
is involved in all aspects of the real estate
process including pre-development consulting,
staging and selling properties,
has more than 100 agents with more than
70 percent of Long Island City’s market
share.
In addition to Skyline Tower, Modern
Spaces is handling several other Court
Square condominium projects including
the Corte, the Bond and Craft smen
Townhomes.
“We were already the largest broker in
all of Queens and we expect to expand
throughout Queens,” Benaim said. “I
never imagined anything like this, not
even when I realized Amazon was on the
way here.”
Report: Rents declined in many Queens areas in December
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com
@QNS
Many Queens neighborhoods saw a
decrease in rental prices in December,
according to a recent report.
MNS Real Estate released their
December 2018 Rental Market Report,
which looks at the changes in rental prices
throughout the borough.
Th e report found that the average
Queens rental prices dropped from
$2,218.60 to $2,202.98, marking a 0.70
percent decrease overall. However, compared
to December 2017, the average
rental price in Queens rose 0.57 percent
year-over-year.
Compared to November 2018, average
rental prices of studios, one-bedroom and
two bedroom units in Queens saw price
decreases. Prices of studio units decreased
from $1,844.13 to $1,834.60, one-bedroom
units decreased from $2,099.02
to $2,094.52 and two-bedroom units
dropped from $2,712.65 to $2,679.83.
While the average price of a two-bedroom
unit fell 0.46 percent year-overyear,
average rental prices for studios and
one-bedroom units increased by 2.07 percent
and 0.60 percent, respectively.
Aft er having the lowest priced studio
apartment in November 2018, Flushing
saw prices increase from $1,576 to $1,634
in December 2018, marking a 3.7 percent
increase overall. Th e lowest priced studio
apartment was found in Jackson Heights,
which saw the average price drop from
$1,608 to $1,553.
Th e least expensive one-bedroom and
two-bedroom units were found in Jackson
Heights and Ridgewood, respectively.
Long Island City was the neighborhood
that had the most expensive studio,
one-bedroom and two-bedroom unit in
December 2018. In addition to Flushing,
which saw a 1.07 percent increase monthto
month, Long Island City saw a 1.68
percent average price increase monthto
month.
While Ridgewood saw a 1.9 percent
increase overall in November, the average
rental price in the neighborhood dropped
1.7 percent in December. Other neighborhoods
that saw month-to-month price
decreases were Astoria (-1.34 percent),
Rego Park (-2.42), Jackson Heights (-3.28
percent), and Forest Hills (-0.38).
Read the full report at www.mns.com/
queens_rental_market_report.
Photo courtesy of Donna Dotan Photography Inc.
Eric Benaim, co-founder and CEO of Modern Spaces in Long Island City
Photo via Getty Images
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