Avison Young announced today its Tri-State Investment Sales Group has sold The Cigar Factory, a 120,559-square-foot creative office building at 35-11 9th St. in Astoria, Queens, for $26.375 million. Extensively renovated by the previous owner, the four-story factory-turned-office features predominantly open floorplans suited to a range of uses from conventional offices to creative studios.
Principal and Head of Tri-State Investment Sales James Nelson represented the seller with Erik Edeen and Charles Kingsley, Principals, and Brent Glodowski, Director. The buyer was Daryl Hagler.
“The Cigar Factory enables the new owner to offer a combination of modern functionality and old-world flavor that has become ultra-desirable among tenants, and with average in-places slightly below the market rate, if offers a great opportunity to increase the buyer’s return through leasing,” Nelson said. “We were able to drive value for our client by communicating the asset’s many advantages to potential buyers, and that shows in the final price.”
Those advantages include being in an Opportunity Zone, which makes the site eligible for local incentives including the Relocation Employment Assistance Program. The property’s R5 zoning could allow conversion to residential use. The seller recently completed $6.4 million in renovations to the property, creating a new lobby, upgrading elevators and adding bike and locker rooms. The work also included courtyard landscaping and established an interior and exterior aesthetic designed to foster inspiration.
The office building spans a full block on 35th Avenue with additional frontage on 9th and 10th streets. It is a short walk from the N, W and F trains, is a 20-minute drive from Midtown Manhattan, and only 16 minutes from LaGuardia Airport. Home to a diverse and stable tenant mix, the property was 61% occupied at closing.
