By Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech
A large retail property in Jackson Heights that’s home to Terraza 7, a popular bar featuring live music performances, has been sold for $7 million.
The brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield sold the 8,730 square-foot site located at 84-02 Roosevelt Ave. to Malachite Services, a Long Island-based real estate firm that owns several shopping centers across the nation.
The sale was equal to $802 per square-foot and $200 per buildable square-foot, according to a press release obtained by TimesLedger. The property, which spans the addresses 84-02 through 84-16 Roosevelt Ave. and 40-17 through 40-21 Gleane St., has up to 35,000 buildable square feet.
The firm plans on renting the 8,730 square-foot space but plan to develop it in the future.
“The investor benefits from the opportunity to take advantage of the newly revived 421-a program,” said Cushman & Wakefield’s Stephen Preuss in a press release. “During the first two years after a property purchase, the 421-a tax exemption program gives unit owners a 100 percent exemption from any increases in their property taxes. After those two years, property taxes are increased by 20 percent for the normal tax rate every two years for the following eight years.”
The property is located within walking distance of the 82nd Street stop on the 7 line.
But not everyone is convinced the sale is good for the community.
“The sale is a part of what’s coming to Queens,” said Carlos Freire, creator of the documentary Terraza 7, a live music a bar that currently occupies part of the property. “Gentrification is taking over the area of Jackson Heights causing the disappearance of the diversity of the area.”
