The Paper Factory Hotel, Long Island City, Queens
NEW YORK CITY—The Collective, a London-based real estate firm that focuses on co-living, has acquired the Paper Factory Hotel located at 37-06 36th St. in Long Island City, Queens for $58 million. Gal Sela was the seller of the property in an off-market transaction.
The company plans to convert the building that's near the Kaufman Arts District and Astoria, into a short-stay co-living space. The facility will offer membership-based hotel lodging from stays of one night to up to a couple of weeks. An all-inclusive bill will include the hotel services and amenities such as linen changing, a concierge, Wi-Fi and utilities. But it also adds a community focus with arts, culture and wellbeing events. The programs will be open to both members as well as the public.
Though late spring 2019, The Collective will be updating the dining, outdoor and event areas throughout the lobby and basement. In early 2020, company will add approximately 100 rooms in the upper floors, expanding the current count of 125. The Paper Factory is currently open for booking and will be throughout the renovations.
“We are profoundly excited for our arrival in Queens. We love to join culturally vibrant neighborhoods who are embarking on their own phase of change, and to work alongside locals to understand their current needs,” says Reza Merchant, The Collective's founder and CEO.
This is the third major investment the company has made in developing New York City locations. On March 1, with Tower Holdings Group, The Collective acquired the plot at 1215 Fulton St., in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Slave Theater formerly was located on the site but had been demolished in 2016.
At the time of the acquisition The Collective released a statement: “We acknowledge and do not take lightly the immense significance the site has to the Bedford-Stuyvesant community and beyond.” It further expressed a commitment to honor the history of Slave Theater and to ensure a positive impact for the neighborhood. The target construction completion date for this development is 2022.
In October 2018, The Collective acquired 555 Broadway in Brooklyn from Blesso Properties and Park-It Management for $54.25 million. The company plans to create a $450 million, 350,000-square-foot, purpose-built residential complex at this location which borders the neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Bushwick. It is also expected to be completed in 2022 and will serve as the flagship US location.
“Queens and Brooklyn are just the first steps on our exciting US journey. In today's increasingly global, mobile and access-driven society, we are becoming citizens of the world rather than citizens of a particular country,” says Merchant. “The network of locations that we're building and activating will unlock for people the freedom they crave to work, live, explore and enjoy on their terms.”
The Collective states that it has a combined gross development value of over $3 billion. It notes that its current portfolio comprises 7,500 units that are fully operational or under development.
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Betsy Kim
Betsy Kim was the bureau chief, East Coast, and New York City reporter for Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. As a lawyer and journalist, Betsy has worked as the director of editorial and content for LexisNexis Lawyers.com, a TV/multi-media journalist for NBC and CBS affiliated TV stations in the Midwest, and an associate producer at Court TV.
