Falchi Building After purchasing the Falchi Building on Long Island City, Savanna has a capital improvement and leasing plan.

NEW YORK CITY—Providing a hint as to what types of firms will be recruited for the Falchi Building—a coveted mixed-use building in Long Island City, Queens—Savanna director Andrew Kurd tells GlobeSt.com, “Falchi is an asset that is great for tenants needing large scale office space with flexible layouts. The property offers a range of uses, including creative office, fashion, TAMI, light manufacturing and back office.”

Savanna picked-up the five-story, 711,194-square-foot asset from Jamestown late last week after securing acquisition financing. Parties to the deal declined to provide a purchase price to GlobeSt.com, but an industry data source puts the sale price at approximately $276 million, or $419 per square foot. The building was last traded in 2012 for just over $81 million.

Blackstone Mortgage Trust provided Savanna with an approximately $200 million loan. Eastdil Secured brokered the sale and arranged the loan.

In conjunction with its leasing plan, Savanna will implement a $35 million capital improvement plan at Falchi, which occupies a full city block bounded by 47th and 48th Avenues, between 31st Street and 31st Place. The upgrades will be focused on building amenities and infrastructure, such as upgrading building systems, modernizing elevators, renovating common corridors and bathrooms, as well as developing new ground floor retail.

Mitch Arkin, Joe Grotto, Jr., Haley Fisher, Dan D’Agnes and Kelli Berke of Cushman & Wakefield will work closely with Savanna to lease the property’s office space. David Tricarico, also of Cushman & Wakefield, will head up the retail leasing effort.

Savanna also owns One Court Square–the Citibank Building–a 1.5-million-square-foot office tower in the Court Square sub-market of Long Island City.

“Our acquisition of the Falchi Building demonstrates our continued commitment to Long Island City,” says Kurd. “We are excited to position Falchi to serve the incredibly robust demand for office space in Long Island City and are looking forward to making additional contributions to the area’s creative culture.”

Adds Arkin, an executive director, “We’re excited to partner with Savanna, and looking forward to continuing on the execution of a robust leasing campaign for The Falchi Building, which we believe has paved the way for much of the exposure from the brokerage community into the Long Island City market.”

The property, which is 90%  leased, houses tenants such as City of New York, Uber, Lyft, Spaces (Regus),Juice Press and Doughnut Plant. The building reportedly is under ten minutes from Midtown Manhattan via the 7, E, F, G, M, N, Q, R trains, the Queens Midtown Tunnel, and the Queensboro Bridge.