Developers Eye Greater Flushing for Condos, Marketing to Asian Buyers

By Hellen Zaboulani

Greater Flushing is attracting attention as Queens’ own Chinatown.

Developers are seizing opportunities to add luxury apartments or update older residential buildings in Greater Flushing, to capitalize on the influx of Asian buyers moving into the neighborhood. As reported by Crain’s NY, new census figures show that the Asian population in the neighborhood increased to 706,000 in 2020, up from 547,000 in 2010, demonstrating a nearly 30% jump.

Over the past few years, developers have started taking advantage of the drastically underbuilt lots in Northern Boulevard— buying mall strips, vacant lots or older buildings and turning them into luxury apartment buildings, which will be marketed to Asian buyers. “There’s a lot of activity here because there’s a realization that Flushing has been exploding and will continue to explode,” said Myles Horn, the managing partner of Glacier Equities, which focuses on buying units in the borough’s older buildings. “We are the alternative to the shiny new buildings that generally have smaller rooms and no Old World charm.”

As per Crain’s, the company purchased over 60 unsold units at 148-09 Northern Blvd., an 87-unit condo building named Northern Lights. The two 6-story buildings, built in 1924 and situated in the corner of Murray Hill, are getting units renovated —with new kitchens and in some cases reconfigurations to add an extra bedroom. Glacier is also planning to add building amenities, including a gym, and to renovate hallways, and lobbies. The company will be marketing the units in batches, with the first batch currently up for sale. Previously, developer RockFarmer Properties had targeted the building trying to convert the units into condos. It had trouble selling out though, so it opted to rent them. Prices at the building are up substantially now— asking $689,000 for a one-bedroom unit, or around $900 per square foot. “If we buy at $400,000, we spend $200,000, and then we sell at $800,000,” Horn said of the business plan for marketing the two-bedroom units.

As far as new developments are concerned, at 144-74 Northern Blvd, in 2020 a block of parking lots with a Burger King was replaced by a seven-story, 103-unit luxury apartment building, named the Urban. The red-brick rental building, offers amenities including a gym, roof deck and a work lounge. Also at 147-17 Northern Blvd, a 7-story, 38,000-square-foot building was built, offering 33 condos as well as stores and community space. Asking prices there are about $1000 per square foot.

Across the borough of Queens, condos are being sold at an average price of $770,000, or about $900 per square foot, as per a fourth-quarter market report by Douglas Elliman.