Queens' Tallest Building To Go Up In Long Island City: Reports

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS -- Queens' tallest skyscraper is set to go up in Long Island City, according to news reports.

Developers recently secured a $502 million loan from a group of banks led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to build the 67-story condo at 23-14 44th Drive, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Queens-based developer Chris Xu - who's spearheading the massive 802-apartment project - locked down the financing in late June, Meridian Capital Group, who brokered the loan, told the newspaper.

Xu and Meridian Capital Group did not immediately return Patch's request for comment.

It will cost Xu roughly $700 million to build the 778-foot-tall tower, with the remaining funds coming from equity, according to the Wall Street Journal. His partners include FSA Capital's Brian Pun, Hong Kong-based developer Risland U.S. Holdings LLC and Henry Yeung.

Xu originally planned the gargantuan tower to be even taller, with his first proposal in 2016 being a 964-foot-tall building, Curbed reported.

The tower's newly posed height would still make it the tallest in the borough, a record that will be briefly held by another Long Island City skyscraper going up at 29-37 41st Ave, according to the real estate site. When the tower is completed, it will reportedly ascend to 710 feet.

The complex - whose units will range from studios to four-bedrooms - is slated to be finished entirely by 2022, but apartment pre-sales could begin as soon as the end of this year, Eric Benaim, chief executive of Modern Spaces, the real-estate firm marketing the space, told the Wall Street Journal.

Modern Spaces did not immediately return Patch's request for comment.

(Lead image: The construction site at 23-14 44th Drive. Photo via Google Maps)