Carlyle Sells LIC Site for $49 Million Three Years After Purchase

Three years after buying the site with a commercial building in mind, the Carlyle Group is instead shuffling a Long Island City property to another developer.

Montperia Group — formerly known as Ampiera Group — and JLS Construction purchased the property at 24-02 Queens Plaza South for $49 million, Crain’s reported. News of the sale was first reported by PincusCo.

Carlyle purchased the home of the Apex Technical School from Atlas Capital in 2020 for $40 million. At the time, Carlyle planned to raze the building and put up a 270,000-square-foot commercial property, according to Crain’s; Apex vacated the site earlier this year, but Carlyle never moved ahead with construction.

Maxim Credit Group provided a $25 million acquisition mortgage to the buyers. Montperia and Carlyle both declined to comment when approached by Crain’s.

When emailed by The Real Deal, Quantierra’s Benjamin Carlos Thypin, — who represented the buyers in the acquisition — pointed to the sale as a demonstration of the strength of New York City’s residential land market where developable land is scarce, even in a post-421a era.

While Montperia’s plans for the site are unknown, the developer’s past history suggests a condo project is a strong possibility. That being said, while there is a school building on the property spanning 74,000 square feet, the site has 110,000 square feet of additional air rights and zoning that allows for residential or industrial use, according to PincusCo.

This year, Ampiera filed plans for a 63-unit project in Sunnyside, proposed to include 85,000 square feet of total residential and retail space, though it’s unclear if the units will be rentals or condos. Similarly to the firm’s latest buy, it’s also unclear how it is handling the built property already on site.

Carlyle, a private equity giant, has become known for stitching together a massive portfolio of small Brooklyn apartment buildings, ultimately exceeding 130 properties, The Real Deal first reported last year. 

— Holden Walter-Warner