A joint venture between Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group and Triangle Equities has secured an $85 million refinancing loan for the first two floors of Terminal Logistics Center, a 300,000-square-foot, five-story industrial condominium in New York City’s Queens borough.
LoanCore Capital issued the note, while Institutional Property Advisors Capital Markets, a division of Marcus & Millichap, arranged the financing. In 2023, the venture obtained $136 million for the asset’s recapitalization. H.I.G. Realty Partners issued $75 million in debt, while the venture partners supplied $61 million in equity.
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Terminal Logistics Center’s first two floors encompass 164,295 square feet of rentable space fully leased to DO & CO New York Catering, a global airline services firm. An additional 102,275 square feet of truck courts are also available.
The first two floors of the industrial condominium—also the first vertical air cargo development on the East Coast—feature 26-foot clear heights, 26 loading docks, 50- by 50-foot column spacing, 300-pound-live-load capacity, as well as 53-foot tractor trailers.
Located in an Opportunity Zone at 130-02 S. Conduit Ave. in the Jamaica neighborhood, Terminal Logistics Center operates less than 2 miles from the John F. Kennedy International Airport and roughly 17 miles southeast of the Port of New York City and New Jersey.
IPA Executive Managing Director Max Herzog alongside Senior Managing Director Marko Kazanjian, as well as Director Max Hulsh and Associate Director Andrew Cohen arranged the financing on behalf of the venture.
Overcoming hazardous obstacles to build Terminal Logistics Center
A partnership of Craft Architecture and GF55 Partners designed Terminal Logistics Center following the site’s purchase by Triangle in 2018. Prior to construction, the company enrolled in New York City’s Office of Environment Remediation program with the help of Roux, an environmental consulting and management firm.
The team addressed the nearly 3-acre site’s hazardous materials through the removal of five underground storage tanks and the installation of a vapor barrier, as well as a reinforced concrete slab underlain by clean material.
What’s more, due to the site’s proximity to JFK International Airport there were height restrictions to adhere to. As such, the crew excavated deeper, removing 35,000 cubic yards of clean soil that was subsequently reused through OER’s Clean Soil Bank in various locations throughout Staten Island, Queens and the Bronx.
Queens industrial absorption stays positive
At the end of 2024’s second quarter, Queens’ industrial vacancy rate stood at 4.3 percent, outperforming the Bronx (8.0 percent) and Long Island (4.9 percent), while being outshined by Brooklyn (3.8 percent) and Staten Island (0.9 percent), according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield.
Year-to-date through June, industrial leasing activity in Queens clocked in at 825,877 square feet with a positive net overall absorption of 18,577 square feet during the same period, the report shows. However, the second quarter presented a negative absorption of 172,032 square feet.
Despite the broad-based Board of Governors Sentiment Index falling quarter-over-quarter to 102.4 from 105.4, investors continue to secure debt for industrial projects in Greater New York City. In April, Lincoln Equities Group closed on a $53.5 million construction loan for a last-mile logistics facility in Belleville, N.J. PCCP LLC issued the note.
Three months prior, Seagis Property Group LP had secured a $122 million loan for the financing of a 13-asset industrial portfolio encompassing more than 1.1 million square feet. The properties are located in South Florida, New Jersey and New York City.