Long Island City Rezoning Would Add To Market

Long Island City could be on the receiving end of another 15,000 apartments if the City Council approves a rezoning proposal slated for a vote later this month.

If the neighborhood’s prior evolution is any indication, a fresh slate of sites is likely an attractive prospect for developers, who have delivered thousands of housing units since a major rezoning in 2001.

Long Island City has transformed in recent years from an aging industrial scape to a desirable residential hub. The area’s development boom began largely with rental projects before luxury condo towers sprouted up, benefiting from an influx of demand during the pandemic.

Price growth in Long Island City is undeniable, even if long-term comparisons can be murky considering there were few homes to sell before rezoning efforts. Between 2014 and 2024, median sale prices in the neighborhood more than doubled, up from $287,000 to $667,000, according to a report from Property Shark.

In September, the median sale price was $805,000, up 11 percent from the same month last year, according to data from Redfin. During the same period, the median price per square foot rose more than 5 percent to over $1,000.

One of the neighborhood’s most notable projects is Chris Jiashu Xu’s Skyline Tower, which has pushed the boundaries of price expectations since launching sales in 2019. At the time, Xu anticipated the 800 units to sell out for more than $1 billion.

A penthouse at the building set a new price per square foot record in 2023 when it closed for $2.3 million, or $2,300 per square foot. The tower is also home to the priciest rental in Queens, a 67th-floor penthouse that snagged a new tenant earlier this year with a last asking price of $11,500 per month, the New York Post reported.

However, the building at 3 Court Square isn’t without its challenges. Several of its penthouses, priced between $2 million and $3.4 million still haven’t traded. Plus, 90 condo owners at the tower sued the developers in 2022 over allegations that early victories heralded by the team behind the project were actually misrepresentations of actual sales numbers, which were later revealed to be much lower than the numbers shared at the time many buyers signed contracts.

Despite the slowdown at Skyline, developers don’t appear to be backing down from building condos in the neighborhood. Montperia Group and JLS Construction Group are planning a 40-story tower, including more than 200 condos, at 24-02 Queens Plaza South, backed by a $115 million construction loan from Maxim Credit Group.

Earlier this week, Hang Dong Zhang’s BZ Development Group finally filed plans to demolish a three-story building at 23-08 Jackson Avenue six years after buying it. The developer is planning to replace the 18,000-square-foot structure with luxury condos, called the Moon Court Square.

Not so fast…

The New York City mayoral election is finally upon us, but the jury’s still out on whether a potential Zohran Mamdani victory will send wealthy residents packing.

Since the Assemblyman won the Democratic primary earlier this summer, brokerage executives and agents have forecasted doom and gloom for the real estate market if Mamdani prevails. Chief among their cautions is a refrain that New York’s richest residents will flee the city over fears of rising taxes and crime.

However, others in the industry have pushed back on that narrative. Some are projecting that sidelined buyers will re-enter the market if prices drop, according to a Curbed article published earlier this week. Others, including Serhant’s Peter Zaitzeff, characterized most of the chatter as conjecture.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of talk, but it’s just talk,” Zaitzeff told the outlet. “New Yorkers like to talk, they like sensationalism, but New York is New York.”

Still, many brokers are on edge, especially as agents in the suburbs are reporting an uptick in activity ahead of the election. The New York Post billed the rising prices and competition in Greenwich, Connecticut and Westchester as a reaction to the looming change in leadership.

“We’ve been seeing bidding wars, and we’ve been seeing people come out of New York City,” Houlihan Lawrence’s Joy Metalios told the outlet.

Compass’ Heather Harrison, who works alongside her husband, Zach, told the Post that Westchester is “even busier than it was during Covid.”

But the duo was quoted in Curbed as saying most of the folks moving out to the suburbs were already planning to regardless of the election. They added that perhaps the only true consequence of the pending election is those suburban buyers pulling the trigger more quickly over fears that even more competitors will enter the ring, given all the press coverage.

Even if the Mamdani-related woes are far-fetched, the industry still isn’t taking any changes. After Mayor Eric Adams dropped out of the race in September, real estate professionals backing the incumbent official instead steered their donations to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo

Early voting ends on Sunday, Nov. 2 at 5 p.m. Election Day voting begins on Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 6 a.m. and closes the same day at 9 p.m.

NYC Deal of the Week

The most expensive deal to land in city records this week was a condo at Extell Development’s 50 West 66th Street, which closed for roughly $47 million, or $6,700 per square foot. Unit 47E in the Upper West Side tower sold to an anonymous LLC known as Darcy5066.

Corcoran’s Beth Benalloul and Hilary Landis are heading sales at the 127-unit building.