Asians bring back industrial market to NY.

There's some light shining at the end of industrial real estate in the metropolitan area, and it's coming from the East.

On the cheerful front, Chinese and Korean manufacturers have rapidly emerged as the nucleus of a new, vibrant light-industrial sector in New York. They compensate to some extent for the mass exodus of traditional manufacturing in the 1980s.

What began essentially as sweat shops in the late 1970s have developed into sophisticated facilities in the 1990s, creating a substantial number of jobs, and taking up much of the industrial space, especially in parts of the outer boroughs.

Some of the firms are pure manufacturers; other contract out production to the Far East and assemble and package consumer products here in New York.

New York's Asian manufacturers are growing quickly, because they are so well suited to the current retailing environment. They can provide retailers with "just in time" delivery of products, and they are agile enough to adapt quality and design to changes in consumer demands.

The Asian firms will never entirely fill the void resulting from decades of manufacturing loss in this city, but they do give reason for optimism.

Let me cite some examples:

* Mon Chong Long Trading Corp., a Chinese food importer, has bought an 82,000-square-foot building in Maspeth, Queens. Formerly an electric equipment warehouse, the building will be used for distribution of food products.

* A Korean food company is actively looking to buy a 100,000-square-foot building in Long Island City or Maspeth. The company plans to install a farmer's market for Korean companies.

* Grant Lighting, a Korean wholesaling company, recently bought the former Koch + Lowy building in long Island City, where K + L manufactured lighting fixtures. Grant will use the property to assemble and distribute lighting fixtures and electrical equipment.

* About a year ago, Cowboy Trading Company, A Korean company, bought the 190,000-square-foot Capital Distributors Building in Maspeth to distribute electronics.

* And less than a year ago, a Chinese food company moved into a 20,000-square-foot building in Ridgewood, for ware house and distribution. The building had been used to process spices.

So much for the cheerful news. Meanwhile, however, industrial property sales in Long Island City have become more difficult. With so many properties both highly leveraged and deflated in value, sellers generally cannot obtain a sales price that will let them pay off their mortgages, satisfy taxes, cover legal and brokerage costs, and still make a profit.

At the same time, tenants have little economic incentive to buy, particularly when they can lock in good long-term rents. Unfortunately, real estate taxes in many cases equal basic rent, and this can force owners into bankruptcy. The bright side today is that - as buildings gradually become absorbed and the economy starts to turn around - we expect an upward adjustment in the market.