[NYguy]

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...TATE/130129891

Eagle Electric site to sprout 40-story apt. tower
Purchase of site for $37 million is part of a shift away from the increasingly built-up Long Island City, Queens, waterfront toward Queens Plaza.


By Matt Chaban
January 29, 2013

The two-story, neon Eagle Electric sign, a long-time landmark in Long Island City, that was replaced by a regular billboard over a decade ago, is slated to get a high-profile successor—a 40-story, 400-plus-unit rental tower.

Early this month a consortium of Property Markets Group, the Hakim Organization and Vector Group paid $37 million for 23-10 Queens Plaza South, a prewar Art Deco-style loft building that was once home to Eagle Electric's production facilities, and a neighboring building at 23-01 42nd Road. The plan is to demolish the latter building and, with the considerable air rights afforded by the adjacent factory, construct a brand new apartment tower.

"The city of New York is continuing to grow, and Long Island City is continuing to grow," Kevin Maloney, principal at PMG said. "The city is pushing out, it's pushing people here, and we're pushing the property as a result." Long Island City has seen a boom in residential development in recent years, but much of the building has been focused along the waterfront. What drew the investors to the Eagle Electric site was a shift in development away from the river—where most properties have been snapped up, if not built up, already—towards Queens Plaza.

Clifford Finn, a broker at Douglas Elliman who is consulting on the design and marketing of the project, likened the LIC waterfront to living in Battery Park City, far from mass transit and other neighborhood offerings. "I like to think of Queens Plaza, then, as living in the financial district," he said. "The transportation is much better, you can get anywhere in minutes, and for young people who want to be in the middle of it all, that's very appealing."

According to research by Douglas Elliman, there are only six new waterfront developments in the works with a few hundred apartments split between them. Around Queens Plaza, as many as 15 different projects are coming online in the next two to three years with upwards of 1,500 units. Among the new developments are a 700-unit Rockrose project at 43-22 Queens St., on another Eagle Electric property, and almost directly across the subway tracks, Worldwide Group is planning its own 40-story, 416-unit tower.

It is for this reason that the developers are rethinking what to do with the Eagle Electric building. Initially, they had planned to turn it into lofts, but with so many other apartments on the horizon, the group is thinking shops might be a better option. Behind the Eagle Electric building will rise the new tower, designed by SLCE. "All we really care about is the air rights," Mr. Maloney said. Prices have not been set, nor has the unit mix, but the team anticipates a range of studios and one- and two-bedroom apartments.

"We're still figuring out what's going inside the building, but I can tell you, we'll have great views of the 59th Street Bridge, of the river, and of the Manhattan skyline," Mr. Finn said. "And we'll have a great amenities package."