Cardboard Box Factory To Become Exposition Center

Artst's rendering of the international trade exposition center to rise on the site of the former Standard Folding Cartons factory near LaGuardia Airport.

Where in the world is Fujian? The answer will soon be Jackson Heights, as this 32-plus-million person province of China will be able to showcase its low-cost industrial manufacturing attractions and thousands of agricultural products in a new 120,000-square-foot exhibition center. A team of Greiner-Maltz brokers made up of Richard Maltz, Lawrence Reiff, Charles Wong and Adrian Smilovici represented both the seller of this total 155,000-square-foot site, Standard Folding Cartons, 83-15 24th St., Astoria, and the purchaser, Grandland Real Estate Development Company. The purchase price was $23 million.

Situated at LaGuardia Airport just off Astoria Boulevard, "This development represents a change of land use from industrial (cardboard box manufacturing) to high-value product showrooms which will transform a transitional neighborhood of bus yards, motels, and mixed-use retail-office into a destination for merchants who are located throughout the entire Eastern Seaboard," reported Richard Maltz, chairman of Greiner-Maltz. Further, geographically situated between the bourgeoning Asian population of Flushing and the rapidly changing population of the formerly industrial areas of Astoria and Long Island City, this transaction will be the harbinger of a new development surge in Queens, which will add a significant vibrancy and economic growth impetus to New York City, according to Charles Wong and Adrian Smilovici, the Greiner- Maltz brokers who have conducted numerous prospecting trips to Mainland China, a necessity in order to develop the acumen to pilot a transaction of this scope and complexity, creating possibly the largest trade exposition center in Queens.

Grandland International (GINY) follows a business model of integrating commercial real estate with manufacturing, international trade, exhibition, and B2B wholesale developed by Grandland International Investment Group (GHG), which has similar successful operations in Africa and Asia. The goal of the business model, by providing comprehensive business services to both its tenants and their U.S. customers, is to find solutions to the issues faced by small and medium businesses in the United States and their international counterparts. In addition to providing showroom space for approximately 200 international manufacturers for display and storage of their merchandise to U.S. distributors and retailers, GINY will also provide an all-inone service for its tenants to foster product selection, sales, and shipping. Additionally, GINY will support both tenants and U.S. companies in navigating the complex import and export regulatory environment and employ U.S. marketing and multimedia promotion strategies, and through an extensive multi-lingual translation program, allow international companies and their U.S. counterparts to firmly negotiate and close sales onsite, without the time constraints and additional cost of middlemen. GINY will also provide a full range of legal, accounting and tax consulting services for its international tenants doing business in the facility.

The GINY concept, a proven success in many nations, is a first for the United States. American small and medium-size businesses will now have the opportunity to interact directly with international industrial supply and manufacturing multidisciplined representatives. This opportunity is the key not only to establishing economically viable products for their own requirements, but also provides U.S. firms with opportunities to build solid relationships with their counterparts, instead of costly meetings with multi-national sales representatives on making annual sales calls. U.S. firms' engineers, developers and factory managers will have the opportunity to discuss their specific requirements, specialized tooling and improved manufacturing control with GINY tenants who will be, again, not just sales representatives, but those international firms' experienced production personnel. This close cooperation, allowed through GINY international business services, opens the opportunity to greatly expand trade between the small firms and affirms New York's dominance as the world's business center, not just for the Fortune 500, but in the economic dynamic of the 21st Century's global industrial transformation, for small businesses as well.

For more information on this Greiner-Maltz transaction or any other available properties in the metropolitan area, call Charles Wong, Adrian Smilovici, Larry Reiff or Richard Maltz at 718- 786-5050 or visit www.greinermaltz.com.