Grand Logistics Center industrial project in Queens financed for $316M

NEW YORK, December 9, 2020 – JLL announced today that it has arranged a $316 million construction loan for the development of Grand Logistics Center, a 1.1-million-square-foot, state-of-the-art, multi-story distribution facility in the Queens community of Maspeth, New York, and secured the lease for the investment-grade e-commerce tenant.

JLL worked on behalf of the borrower, a partnership between LBA Logistics and RXR Realty, to place the loan. The anticipated project completion date is December 2022.

Situated at 55-15 Grand Ave., Grand Logistics Center is positioned at the crossroads of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and Long Island Expressway. The building’s location provides access to Manhattan and the outer borough markets, making the tenant’s last-mile delivery strategy to service the 7.9 million residents within the New York City metropolitan area possible.

“With most of the major banks hitting pause during the pandemic, the construction loan market became challenging, but we were highly confident in the merits of the project despite the environment,” said Michael Maturo, President of RXR Realty. “We were fortunate to identify a lead bank and have multiple participants to fill out the syndication on a large loan with optimal terms in this market.

“The attention to the opportunity is an indication of the strength of the site, and the RXR/LBA sponsorship as well as the quality of the tenant,” he added. “It is a testament that the best-of-the-best projects are still achieving attractive capitalization structures.”

“After exploring multiple capitalization structures with alternative financing sources, we were pleased with the outcome of obtaining a traditional construction loan of this size in an efficient process,” said Tom Rutherford, LBA’s Principal of Finance.

The JLL Capital Markets team representing the borrower was led by Executive Managing Directors Kevin MacKenzie and Mike Tepedino and Managing Director Brian Torp.

The JLL Agency Leasing team that secured the lease for the ownership was led by Vice Chairman Robert Kossar and Executive Managing Director Leslie Lanne.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the shelter-in-place policies that ensued have accelerated e-commerce growth and the need for warehouse space across the nation. JLL anticipates e-commerce sales could hit $1.5 trillion by 2025, which would increase the demand for industrial real estate to an additional 1 billion square feet.

Grand Logistics Center is in the heart of New York City’s premier logistics submarket, Maspeth, which JLL Research details in its New York Industrial Insight - Q3 2020 report has a 1.8% vacancy rate, and the New York City industrial market, which, in particular, is experiencing an ever-growing reliance on e-commerce and food and beverage delivery may be buoyed from some of the economic fallout driven by COVID-19. As a result, JLL’s outlook on the market remains cautiously optimistic for both the short- and long-term growth prospects.

JLL Capital Markets is a full-service global provider of capital solutions for real estate investors and occupiers. The firm's in-depth local market and global investor knowledge delivers the best-in-class solutions for clients — whether investment sales advisory, debt placement, equity placement or a recapitalization. The firm has more than 3,700 Capital Markets specialists worldwide with offices in nearly 50 countries.

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