Three weeks before New York City went dark in early 2020, Shibber Khan's Criterion Group wired $19.25 million for a low-slung commercial lot where the R and M trains rumble beneath Northern Boulevard. Instead of shelving the blueprints during the lockdowns, Khan went vertical—delivering 132 apartments and ground-floor retail steps from the 46th Street subway stairs in 2023 before handing the keys to two of Manhattan's oldest office dynasties. When the deed closed on March 22, 2026, Tishman Speyer and Silverstein Capital Partners had officially taken down 42-11 Northern Boulevard from Shibber Khan's Criterion Group for $46.2 million, with Newmark brokering the trade.

Look past the sticker price and the trade tells a clear story about replacement cost in Queens. At $400 a square foot—or $350,000 a door across its 132 apartments— across 115,500 square feet, the closing price marks a 140.0 percent step-up over the $19.25 million basis recorded in February 2020. In today's five-borough construction market, buying modern or well-maintained brick at $400 a square foot still beats the time and cost of digging a foundation from scratch. Even better for the buyers, the in-place rent roll hands them a verified 5.85 percent going-in cap rate from day one.

Why Agency Paper Still Rules the Outer Boroughs

The real tell in any Queens closing sits on the debt side of the ledger. To fund the purchase, Tishman Speyer and Silverstein Capital Partners locked in a $30.03 million 10-year fixed fannie mae dus agency loan from Fannie Mae DUS (via Newmark) at 65 percent loan-to-value.

That loan commitment meant the buyers only needed to write a $16.17 million equity check to control a 9-story, 2023-vintage Long Island City–Astoria Border asset. Credit committees aren't stretching to 75 percent leverage anymore, but when a sponsor brings $16.17 million of real cash equity and a basis of $400 a square foot, lenders like Fannie Mae DUS are wide open for business.

From Our Desk

When we look at 42-11 Northern Boulevard on our placement desk at Light Tower Group, the lesson for New York sponsors comes down to the marriage of entry basis and lender selection. Tishman Speyer and Silverstein Capital Partners didn't try to fight the tape—they bought Long Island City–Astoria Border footage at $400 a square foot and paired it with the exact lender bucket built for this business plan. When you hand Fannie Mae 2023-vintage Queens brick at $350,000 a door and a rent roll that clears a 10-year debt-service test at 65 percent leverage, Midtown's biggest checkbooks will gladly cross the river to take you out.