Xinyuan Real Estate has just acquired 135-35 Northern Blvd. in Flushing, Queens for $66 million. The property, which was once a movie house called RKO Keith’s Theater, will be converted to a 269-unit condo building.
“We are very pleased to be developing our third major project in the New York residential real estate market. The location for this project in downtown Flushing is ideally situated particularly as there is a shortage of inventory in the higher-end condominium segment. Given the location of this project, we expect it will be appealing to both local and foreign buyers and investors. We believe our new project will become a unique site in downtown Flushing and a successful project for our Company,” said Xinyuan Chairman Yong Zhang.
The landmarked theater has been vacant for more than three decades. According to Crain’s, the previous owner, JK Equities, put the property up for sale last February. The firm bought the building for $30 million in 2013.
Once the condos are built, the 372,598 s/f mixed use development will have retail space at the ground-floor and second floor. The designs for the conversion will come from architecture firm Pei Cobb Freed.
Xinyuan expects to begin the redevelopment when it finishes construction on its Oosten project in Williamsburg. The Oosten development is expected to be delivered later this year.
