First Citizens Provides $66M Construction Loan for Woodside Apartments

ZD Jasper Realty has sealed $66.1 million of construction financing to build a multifamily tower in Woodside, Queens, Commercial Observer has learned.

First Citizens Bank supplied the loan for the developer’s planned 14-story apartment building at 64-11 Queens Boulevard. The 175-unit project, which will include 11,318 square feet of ground-floor retail space, is slated for completion within 30 months.

Ripco Real Estate arranged the financing with a capital markets team of Adam Hakim, James Murad and Michael Winter. ZD Jasper acquired the site for $18.62 million from a joint venture between two family offices concurrent with the loan in a deal facilitated by  

Ripco’s Stephen Preuss and Andreas Efthymiou, according to the brokerage. 

Murad said the project was attractive to lenders due to its Queens Boulevard location and limited new multifamily supply in New York City’s outer boroughs.

“There’s way more demand for units than supply of multifamily units coming online,” Murad said. “Most new multifamily products today have to be built under 485x, right, and from what we’re seeing, it’s tougher for developers to make the numbers pencil on those projects.”

Efthymiou said in a statement that the development includes a tax abatement under the former 421a program (now 485x) since a portion of the units were designated as affordable housing.  He noted that average rents in Woodside have grown more than 20 percent during the past three years, with vacancy below 3 percent due largely to a “constrained development pipeline.”

The 64-11 Queens Boulevard building will feature 29 below-grade tenant parking spaces while also being steps from the 7 subway line and the Woodside Long Island Rail Road station. Community amenities will include a pickleball court, fitness center and golf simulator.

“Proximity to public transportation is key for these outer borough developments,” Murad said. 

“As a relationship lender, we were pleased to have this opportunity to support an existing customer with new financing for this project,” Chris Niederpruem, head of real estate finance at First Citizens, said in a statement. “Demand for quality multifamily housing is strong nationwide and especially in the attractive New York City market where this project is moving forward.”

Officials at ZD Jasper Realty did not immediately return a request for comment.

Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com.