Emmes Asset Management, together with one of its U.S. pension fund clients, acquired a vacant four-story industrial loft building at 47-16 Austell Place in the Factory District of Long Island City, Queens for approximately $13.5 million.
Emmes is implementing a multi-million dollar capital improvement program, repositioning the former storage and distribution center into a multi-tenanted commercial complex with ground floor retail and local artisanal uses.
The leasing program includes targeting a diverse range of businesses, including high-growth TAMI industries seeking to either relocate or expand into the borough and take advantage of the character of Austell Place, which is known for being only one block long and one of the few cobblestone streets remaining in the area.
Emmes has been active throughout the boroughs over the past 18 months.  Following its acquisition of Studio Square in Queens last year, Emmes is continuing to invest in a borough that’s increasingly being recognized by cultural enthusiasts.
Time Out magazine recently crowned Queens the hottest borough while Lonely Planet anointed Queens the best U.S. destination for 2015.
Austell Place is situated between a burgeoning office market that includes the repositioned Falchi Building and a robust residential market across the LIRR Tracks in and surrounding Court Square.
Pinnacle Realty of New York represented the seller and the team of Cushman & Wakefield / JRT Realty Group, Inc. has been engaged to lease the building.
