ZD Jasper Scores $125M Construction Loan in LIC

A year after acquiring the site, ZD Jasper Realty scored construction financing for a Long Island City, Queens development.

Jasper Wu’s firm scored $125 million for its project at 45-40 Vernon Boulevard, the Commercial Observer reported. iCross Capital provided the loan, which was arranged by an Arrow Real Estate Advisors team of Morris Betesh, Omar Ferreira and Jacob Petrovic.

ZD Jasper’s plans call for a 23-story, 190-unit luxury condo building at the site of the former Paragon Paint Factory. There will also be retail space on the ground floor.

Neither ZD Jasper nor iCross Capital returned the outlet’s requests for comment.

Last April, the Great Neck-based ZD Jasper purchased the waterfront site from Quadrum Global, Baron Property Group and Simon Development for $47 million.

The three-team joint venture acquired the site in 2013 for $14.6 million and proposed various housing plans for it. The developers wanted to build a 28-story, 296-unit housing project, but the community opposed the proposed height. They reduced it to a 23-story, 226-unit project in 2022.

The developers received a zoning variance from the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals, but the project stalled as lenders fretted developers would not be able to finish projects by June 2026 to qualify for the 421a tax abatement, which has since been extended to 2031 for those who put footings in the ground by June 2022.

The site is adjacent to the proposed Amazon HQ2 location that was abandoned in 2019. The city’s Economic Development Corporation is expected to solicit ideas for commercial, light industrial and community-oriented uses for that site in the coming weeks.

In September, ZD Jasper scored $117.5 million in construction financing for a project at 430 West 37th Street in Hell’s Kitchen. Maxim Capital Group provided the debt on the mixed-use, condo-heavy project, retiring existing debt and funding the completion of construction.

— Holden Walter-Warner