By Holly Dutton
Institutional investors are chewing over an opportunity to own a former Wrigley Gum factory on Staten Island.
The seven-story building, at 190-191 Edgewater Street on the north shore, is 126,852 s/f and comes with a 13,100 s/f vacant lot that could provide for parking or a restaurant.
In 2006, the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals approved the site for conversion into 92 luxury residential condo units.
“There’s so much traction going on in St. George and Stapleton,” said Michael Schneider, a first vice president of sales at Massey Knakal who is marketing the property.
“If this gets done, then the DNA changes on the North Shore. It’s truly an investment play.” The vacant site, located under the Verrazano Bridge, has gotten a lot of interest so far from “real players with institutional money,ˮ according to Schneider, who is marketing the site at $8 million.
In total, nearly $1 billion in private investment will be pumped into development of the north shore of Staten Island in the next decade bringing the area hundreds of rental apartments and condominiums, a new outlet mall, infrastructure, parking and the worlds tallest Ferris wheel.
BFC Partners, a Brooklyn-based real estate development company, recently completed The Rail, a 91-unit rental building with 23 low-income apartments and 68 middle-income apartments in Stapleton.
BFC is the same company that built luxury rental building Jupiter 21 in the East Village on the former site of notorious dive, Mars Bar.
Last September, BFC announced it had inked a $230 million deal with the city to develop New York City’s first outlet mall next door to the Richmond County Ballpark, where the Staten Island Yankees play in St. George.
The complex, named Harbor Commons, will have up to 350,000 s/f of retail and 120,000 s/f for a 200-room hotel, including a 1,250 s/f parking garage.
In June, Ironstate Development and city officials broke ground on a $150 million mixed-use project in Stapleton at the site of a former naval base, which will consist of 900 market-rate apartments, 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 600 parking spaces.
The city added $32 million in funds for infrastructure developments and a waterfront esplanade.
And currently in development by Triangle Equities is Lighthouse Point, a $250 million mixed-use development that will include 96 residential units, a 164-room hotel, retail shops and restaurants along the waterfront, according to Triangle Equities’ website.
