Queens Blvd. and 45th St. (Photo: Nina Sityar)
Jan. 21, 2021 By Michael Dorgan
A prominent Sunnyside site that once housed a number of restaurants and stores before they were destroyed in a massive fire is on sale for $12.5 million.
The property, located between 45th and 46th Streets along Queens Boulevard, had contained six well known businesses– including the long-time pub Sidetracks–before the inferno ripped through the buildings on Dec. 13, 2018.
The inferno was so destructive that the city ordered the remnants of the buildings to be demolished.
The structures were torn down and work on leveling the .3 acre parcel was completed in August 2019.
Rasell Realty Corp., a family-run firm that owns the site, has decided to sell the property, since the company doesn’t have a background in development.
“We’re not in the construction business and we wouldn’t know how to develop the site,” said Christopher Petsanas, a co-owner of Rasell Realty.
Petsanas said that the decision to sell was difficult, given that the property has been in the family for three generations. Rasell Realty was established in 1946 and the company acquired the parcel more than 50 years ago.
He said that it made more sense to sell it to a developer that has experience constructing mixed-use buildings.
“It’s with a heavy heart that we are selling but we decided we just needed to move on and nothing else really made sense to us,” he said.
The family owns one other piece of commercial property, which also happens to be in Sunnyside. The building is located at 47-11 Queens Blvd.
The parcel first went on sale in July 2020 for $16.5 million but Petsanas said the asking price has tumbled due to a depressed market.
Petsanas said that the commercial property market peaked around 2015/2016 and the pandemic exacerbated the downward slide.
The company will then look to invest in more property once the sale is completed, he said.
The site of the former Sidetracks on Queens Blvd. between 45th and 46th St. (Photo: Nina Sityar)
Featured Events
16 Comments
We don’t want a 5 ! story building here ! Please keep in line with,other sites here ! (Starbucks etc.) Note: We (neighbors) Will not have it !!!
No, we need housing and commercial space. It should be 6-8 floors.
They burned it down a few weeks after the Amazon HQ2 announcement so they could sell the property $$$.
Someone should buy it and do whatever the hell they want before the neighborhood disappears. It’s not your place to decide what goes there if you don’t own it. Sorry.
It was a good hit job. Was done two times before , stupid sunnyside never asks questions
City should buy it and turn it into a park
my mom would love that.
Maybe some agency can buy it and grow food for locals in need.
Really Basha?
Cause nothing say good eating like soot polluted produce From
buses, trucks and cars from the blvd.
I say bring Sidetracks and
NY Style Eats back.
https://aerofarms.com/2020/02/27/andrew-meets-with-entrepreneurs-creating-a-farm-of-the-future-on-whats-eating-america/
This would be cool. Big windows for the public to look in.
Give the developer a zone variance to build 5 stories higher.
Developer doesn’t need variance to build five stories, can do it as of right.
5 stories HIGHER, than the 8 stories they already get…to make it 13 to promote the next wave of manufacturing in cities, vertical farming.
You’ll need to assess how the soil is. If it isn’t able to withstand life it’s a moot point.
i would never eat food grown on land in sunnyside. wasnt this an industrial area where lead and other toxins seeped into the soil?
Im not sure if it was an industrial area but i would be more concerned about all the dogs in the area how many owners would allow them to roam free and urinate/poop everywhere. I seen dog owners allowing them to do it on park space and sidewalk trees. Many do not clean it up.
it was a tobacco farm Alsop family owned