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A two-story building on a 10,000 square-foot corner lot in Long Island City was recently purchased for $3.8 million and is set to be converted into a 3-story, 60-room hotel sometime next year.

The 14,375 square foot property, located at 32-47 Queens Blvd., was purchased by the Chen family, who own and operate two hotels in Flushing. The deal was quick, according to broker Stephen Preuss, a director of sales at the Queens office of Massey Knakal Realty Services. The property, which was previously owned by a scaffolding supply company called Scaffolding Solutions, came to market in late August. Within two weeks, the Chen family went into contract and closed the deal 30 days later. The new owners have yet to file paperwork with the Department of City Planning.

“They’re holding on to it for at least a year and won’t even start demolitions before that time,” Preuss said. “They have their hands full with their other properties in Flushing.”

New rezoning laws in the Dutch Kills area of Long Island City have made it possible for larger buildings to be constructed along the area’s widest avenues. Residents and the City Planning Commission developed a plan last year that would remove restrictions on residential development and conversions, while continuing to permit light manufacturing and commercial businesses. The Chens’ hotel is one of several new hotel developments in the community, which has not proven popular with several residents or, unsurprisingly, fellow hotel employees.

“When we started, the only other hotel in the area was the Holiday Inn,” said the general manager of the Comfort Inn on Crescent Street, who requested his name not be published. “On a whole this year, there hasn’t been competition but it’s starting to build up. We will just have to change our strategy as hotel operators because the market is going to be saturated soon.”