Directly across 46th Avenue from the Vernon Boulevard waterfront blocks in Long Island City, the OneLIC rezoning turned low-rise pre-war industrial garages into high-density M1-3A/R7A goldmines. Closed on the same afternoon as its $95 million neighbor on 45th Road, Vernon Fee Holdings LLC paid $12 million all-cash on September 9, 2026 to buy 10-11 46th Avenue from FPR Property Holdings, LLC—a 71.4 percent jump over the $7 million price recorded in December 2015. When the deed closed on September 9, 2026, Vernon Fee Holdings LLC had officially taken down 10-11 46th Avenue from FPR Property Holdings, LLC for $12 million, with LIC Investment Sales brokering the trade.

Look past the sticker price and the trade tells a clear story about replacement cost in Queens. At $600 a square foot across 20,000 square feet, the closing price marks a 71.4 percent step-up over the $7 million basis recorded in December 2015. In today's five-borough construction market, buying modern or well-maintained brick at $600 a square foot still beats the time and cost of digging a foundation from scratch.

All-Cash Land Banking Inside the New M1-3A/R7A Rezoning

Just as telling as the purchase price is what did not hit the city register alongside the deed: a senior mortgage. Vernon Fee Holdings LLC closed 10-11 46th Avenue with $12 million of unencumbered equity—or an unsecured corporate line—allowing the buyers to move with immediate execution certainty.

When financing contingencies can stall a New York closing for sixty days, showing up with $12 million in cash at $600 a square foot is the sharpest weapon a buyer can bring to the negotiating table—leaving the sponsorship free to recapitalize in the senior debt market once initial leasing and business-plan milestones are locked in.

From Our Desk

When we look at 10-11 46th Avenue on our placement desk at Light Tower Group, the lesson for New York sponsors comes down to the marriage of entry basis and capital structure. Vernon Fee Holdings LLC didn't try to fight the tape—they bought Long Island City footage at $600 a square foot and structured the stack to match the asset's timeline. Paying $600 per buildable square foot in unlevered cash for a 5,000-square-foot lot on 46th Avenue shows how aggressively fee aggregators are locking up contiguous Vernon Boulevard blocks before construction cranes arrive.