An aerial of the Fresh Direct property in Long Island City, Queens

NEW YORK CITY—Fresh food Internet grocer FreshDirect, which is building a more than $100-million facility in the South Bronx, has sold its Long Island City headquarters and manufacturing facility on Borden Ave. for $48 million in an all-cash deal.

The company has sold the 276,705-square-foot building to Atlas Capital Group of New York City. FreshDirect acquired the property in 1999 and since then completed significant capital improvements to the property as well as upgrades to the building's mechanical systems. The building at 23-30 Borden Ave. features state of the art-management and refrigeration systems. The property, which sits on a 654' x 329' irregular lot, has an additional 129,847 square feet of development rights based on the city's maximum FAR of 2.0.

Cushman & Wakefield's Bob Knakal, chairman, New York investment sales, along with Jonathan Hageman and David Chkheidze represented FreshDirect in the deal. Scott Rosen, principal at Akron Trotter Property Group, represented Atlas Capital in the transaction. Officials with Atlas Capital could not be reached for comment at press time.

According to Atlas' website, the company's portfolio includes “The Property,” a 1-million-square-foot multi-tenanted industrial building at 30-30 47^th Ave. in Long Island City. In addition, the company also has interest in the two-story, 75,000-square-foot 24-02 Queens Plaza South in Long Island City, home to the Apex Technical School.

FreshDirect, after threatening to leave New York State, received significant incentives from New York City and New York State in 2012 to move its operations from Queens to the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. The company's efforts to build a new 500,000-square-foot complex in the South Bronx were opposed by a number of civic organizations, but despite some litigation, none were successful in derailing the project. FreshDirect broke ground on its South Bronx complex in December 2014.

At the time of the deal announced on Feb. 7, 2012 that kept FreshDirect in New York State, state officials said that FreshDirect would invest $112.6 million to build its new headquarters and operations center at Harlem River Yards in the South Bronx and retain almost 2,000 existing jobs and create approximately 1,000 new jobs. The company was eligible for a total of approximately $128 million in incentives from New York State and New York City in the form of property tax exemptions, tax credits, capital grants, loans and energy incentives.

Instant Insights /

FreshDirect Sells Queens Complex for $48M

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