Singapore’s GIC sovereign wealth fund has acquired a stake in Sunset Park’s Industry City.
The transaction involving GIC, one of the largest real estate investors in the world, will value the sprawling industrial park at $1.3 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. The size of GIC’s stake, which it acquired from property owner and investment firm Angelo Gordon, is undisclosed.
The deal comes as the redevelopment of the waterside industrial park enters a new phase. The sites other owners — including Belvedere Capital Real Estate Partners, Jamestown LP and investors Abraham Fruchthandler and Rubin Schron — have been fending off local opposition to plans for rezoning that would allow them to build three new buildings, a school and more retail space.
The rezoning is expected to go before the City Planning Commission next week, the Journal reported. If approved, the City Council will vote on it by May.
Sunset Park residents have drawn ties between development at Industry City and the pushback against Amazon in Long Island City. Plans for a hotel at the site were scrapped after intense pushback. And City Council member Carlos Menchaca, a Democrat who represents the neighborhood, reportedly said he is “prepared to vote no.”
The site was reportedly first assembled in the 1980s and 1990s by Fruchthandler and Schron. A partnership led by Angelo Gordon recapitalized the site with a 50 percent stake in 2013, when redevelopment work at the site really began.
In December, the ownership refinanced the 6 million-square-foot development with a $720 million loan provided by Blackstone and others.
According to Industry City, the site now houses 550 businesses in manufacturing, creative and technology sectors, employing more than 8,000 people — four times as many than in 2013. At one point, Amazon was looking to lease up to 1 million square feet at the complex, or the nearby Brooklyn Army Terminal.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Doug Harmon, Adam Spies and Kevin Donner brokered the deal. [WSJ] — David Jeans