Sun Equity Partners and the Heskel Group is planning a new 160,000-square-foot building on a Jackson Heights site that currently houses a former movie theater, sources told The Real Deal.
The firms recently acquired the property on the site at 40-31 82nd Street for $27 million.
The new building is expected to hold more than 100,000 feet of community space and, on the ground floor and lower level, 45,000 feet of retail space, sources said.
The deal closed this week for around $168 per buildable square foot. David Alani of Inline Realty represented the buyers. The broker for the seller was Suraj Advaney of Triboro Realty.
Yeheskel Elias, CEO of the Forest Hills-based development firm Heskel Group, said the area is heavily populated, and the plan is to extend the retail corridor on 82nd street in order to meet growing demand.
“We are trying to transform the area by bringing in more well-known tenants,” he told The Real Deal.
A representative for Midtown-based Sun Equity Partners could not be immediately reached.