Framing Shop Bark Takes 18K SF in Long Island City
By Larry Getlen November 5, 2025 12:58 pm
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Custom framing shop Bark Frameworks has signed a 15-year lease for 17,500 square feet at the Duplex Industries Building at 42-45 12th Street in the Hunters Point section of Long Island City, Queens, Commercial Observer has learned.
The asking rent was $35 per square foot.
Jonathan W. Burke and Patrick Gardner of J.W. Burke & Company represented Bark and the building’s owner, Superior Management.
The Duplex Industries Building was the home of Duplex Motion Picture Studios during the early days of motion pictures, according to Superior. Later known as the Steinway Storage Building, the space was recently repositioned into a commercial/flex building that, according to J.W. Burke & Company, provides Bark with “a rare building-within-a-building on three levels,” with a private entrance and drive-in access that is “ideal for its high-end, museum-quality art framing operations.”
“Finding the tenant was the easy part,” Burke said in a statement to CO. “All of the heavy lifting was done by the owner, Superior Management, by doing a total building renovation and modernization in addition to accommodating all of the tenant’s needs to create a turnkey building-within-a-building opportunity for them.”
Bark Frameworks was founded in 1969, when the company operated out of the SoHo loft of company founder Jared Bark, according to the company’s website. Bark emphasizes preservation as it handles contemporary art, impressionist works, textiles, Tibetan religious hanging scrolls known as Thangkas, early photographs and more.
Bark will be moving to its new location from another Long Island City property about five blocks away at 21-24 44th Avenue.
“After more than two decades in Long Island City, our long-term lease was expiring,” Jack Sullivan, Bark’s CEO, said in a statement to CO. “Collaborating with local stakeholders, our employee-owned company was able to find an amazing space very close by that we will be moving into with minimal interruptions to operations. We are excited about this transition, and about New York’s commitment to keeping manufacturing/arts businesses like us in the city.”
Superior Management, as Eulisis Capital, bought the 41,400-square-foot, six-story 42-45 12th Street in 2023 in a foreclosure sale for $12.39 million, according to public records.
Larry Getlen can be reached at lgetlen@commercialobserver.com.
