Crain’s New York
Eddie Small, 9.18.20
A real estate company focused on the life sciences industry has purchased a Long Island City property for $40 million.
Botanic Properties, backed by the investment firm the Carlyle Group, bought 24-02 Queens Plaza South from Atlas Capital Group in a deal brokered by Newmark Knight Frank, according to property records and sources familiar with the deal. The site is home to Apex Technical School, and the buyer plans to build a roughly 270,000-square-foot commercial building once the school’s lease ends in about two years.
“The QPS transaction illustrates what developers with a clear vision and strong commitment to the long-term resilience and viability of New York City can get the deal done,” said Bill Harvey of Newmark, who represented the buyer. Newmark’s Brian Ezratty and Scott Ellard represented Atlas.
Atlas had purchased the site for $13.5 million in 2012, according to property records. The building at the address stands three stories tall and spans about 74,000 square feet, according to the city’s figures.
Representatives for Atlas did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and representatives for Botanic Properties and the Carlyle Group declined to comment.
Investment sales have slowed dramatically in New York amid the pandemic. The top 25 property sales for the first half of the year were worth about $6.1 billion overall, a roughly 40% drop compared to the first half of last year.
New York traditionally has lagged behind cities such as Boston and San Francisco in the life sciences industry, but a summer report from the New York Building Congress found that $1.9 billion worth of projects for companies in the sector are underway in Long Island City, Harlem and Midtown East, among other neighborhoods.
https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/life-sciences-developer-buys-lic-building-40m
