NEW YORK CITY—The Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center has acquired an 85,000 square-foot, former bicycle factory in Ozone Park, Queens, NY. It plans to perform a gut renovation of the three-story structure.

Seventy-five thousand square feet of rentable space will be converted to production areas accommodating 20 to 25 small manufacturing businesses and up to 80 skilled workers. GMDC anticipates the workers will earn above living wage incomes.

The facility, to be called the GMDC Ozone Park Industrial Center, has an estimated acquisition and development cost of $40 million.

GMDC CEO Brian Coleman tells GlobeSt.com that the facility is expected to open in the spring of 2019 and a variety of manufacturers including traditional woodworkers, costume makers and jewelry makers have already expressed interest in leasing space. “We expect pricing to be in the mid to high teens,” says Coleman. “From a price point perspective, we think that the property will be very attractive to potential users.”

The building is located at 94-15 100 St. The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, part of the US Department of the Treasury, and the 2010 US Census determined that Ozone Park has an unemployment rate of 12.6%, twice that of New York City. The median income is 53.4% of the area median income of New York City.

GMDC forecasts the project to create 147 full-time construction jobs, and once operating will have a direct annual economic output to the local economy of approximately $23 million.

Enterprise, which is a CDFI non-profit community development lender, and Chase Bank provided financing. Several incentive programs financed the project, including New Markets Tax Credit financing, Historic Tax Credit financing, grant funds from New York City's Economic Development Corporation, grant funds from the State of New York, Industrial Development Agency tax benefits through a PILOT program, and bridge financing through the New York City Partnership Foundation. Additional bridge financing was secured from Sterling National Bank.

Cozen O'Connor real estate attorneys William F. Davis, Lindsay A. Miller, and Daniel Levin, and labor and employment attorney John S. Ho represented GMDC.

The lenders were represented by Dentons US; Miles & Stockbridge; Leverage Law Group; Nixon Peabody; Katten Muchin Rosenman; Sullivan & Worcester; and King & Spalding.

Coleman acknowledges this was a complicated project, with complex financing. “The types of projects we do are very unique. The financing mechanisms that we use are unique. This was a heavy lift,” says Coleman. “We're excited about getting construction under way. From my perspective that's the easy part.”

GMDC is a nonprofit industrial developer focused on providing stable, long-term leases at below market rents to manufacturers, to help companies stay in business in New York City. Coleman notes the de Blasio administration has made a priority of keeping manufacturing jobs in the city. “We've been doing this for 25 years. It's what we do. I'm happy that other people think it's an important thing to do,” says Coleman. “We've been doing it for awhile.”

Since 1992, GMDC has completed renovations of seven manufacturing buildings in Brooklyn, turning them into centers for small manufacturers, craftspeople and artists. Coleman points to the success of similar projects at 1102 Atlantic Ave. in Crown Heights, and 221 McKibbin St. in East Williamsburg. Housed in the five buildings that GMDC currently owns and manages, more than 100 businesses provide jobs to over 600 people.

“The mayor was wise to want to diversity the workforce and manufacturing jobs,” says Coleman. “Even though there aren't as many as there used to be, they are still very good jobs, and that's why we're pursuing this project.”

Instant Insights /

GMDC Brings Life to a Former Factory in Queens

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