IPG: Innovo Property Group in contract for another Long Island City site

Midtown-based developer Innovo Property Group is buying a massive Long Island City industrial site from the former owner of a Long Island City scaffolding company, records show.John Pantanelli, who sold his building materials supplier Swing Staging years ago and now acts as an advisor to the company, is also parting ways with its facility at 25-20 Borden Ave., according to a memorandum of contract that appeared in the city register Wednesday.The deal has been in the works for a while, and Pantanelli plans to close on it within the next few months, he confirmed to Crain's Thursday. He declined to provide the sale price.Andrew Chung, CEO of Innovo, is listed as the incoming buyer of the 71,024-square-foot facility, which sits on a roughly 114,000-square-foot plot of land at the edge of Newtown Creek and the corner of 25th Street.Chung, who did not respond to a request for comment, just wrapped up construction on the Borden Complex about 200 feet away - a 5-story industrial building at 23-30 Borden Ave., which contains a 220,000-square-foot film and television studio with four soundstages.Innovo, in partnership with Atalaya Capital Management and Nan Fung Group, had acquired that property from Atlas Capital Group for $75 million in 2018, The Real Deal reported at the time.Pantanelli did not say whether Swing Staging will remain a tenant or what Chung has in mind for his latest Borden Avenue acquisition, but there's a good chance it is production-related given the massive facility next door, he said.Elsewhere in Queens, Pantanelli is moving ahead with a different kind of development project. In Astoria, he filed plans with the Department of Buildings for more than 300 residential rental units across a new 286,000-square-foot structure at 33-35 11th St. near the waterfront, Crain's reported in April. Pantanelli told Crain's this week that the project is still in the works but declined to provide more details.Michael Werner, a partner at the law firm Fried Frank who was involved in the Borden Avenue transaction, did not return a request for comment by press time.