Six years after acquiring a property in Long Island City’s Court Square, BZ Development Group is moving forward with a new project. The company has filed plans to demolish the existing three-story, 18,000-square-foot building at 23-08 Jackson Avenue, according to Crain’s. The demolition will make way for a luxury condominium development called The Moon Court Square.
BZ Development Group, led by Hang Dong Zhang and based in Flushing, purchased the site in June 2019 for $8.2 million. It remains unclear why there was a significant delay before development began; however, the pandemic may have contributed to the postponement.
Specific details about the upcoming project—including its size and the number of units—have not been disclosed. Requests for comment from Zhang were not answered.
BZ Development Group has previously developed several properties in Long Island City under its “Moon” brand. These include another project on Jackson Avenue as well as developments on 27th Street and 44th Drive.
In a separate deal three years ago, Zhang bought a site at 138-28 Northern Boulevard from Kit Realty LLC for $48 million, intending to redevelop it into a 14-story mixed-use condominium.
Development activity in Long Island City may increase following recent city initiatives. Earlier this year, New York City began the process of rezoning a 54-block area of Queens’ Long Island City neighborhood. The plan aims to enable residential construction where industrial zoning previously limited such development and also seeks to boost commercial and light industrial growth elsewhere in the district.
The Department of City Planning projects that if the rezoning passes through its seven-month review process, approximately 14,700 new apartments could be built over ten years. Of these units, around 4,300 would be designated as income-restricted under Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH). The rezoning is also expected to result in up to 3.5 million square feet of new commercial space and nearly 292,000 square feet dedicated to community use.
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