Aaron Barg pays $7.8M to R.A. Cohen & Associates for 15-unit walkup in LES

Aaron Barg through the entity 259 East Broadway Owner LLC paid $7.8 million to R.A. Cohen & Associates through the entity 259 East Broadway Associates LLC for the 15-unit residential walkup building (C7) at 259 East Broadway in Lower East Side, Manhattan. The expected use is cash flowing.
The deal closed on February 9, 2026 and was recorded on February 18, 2026. The property has 12,076 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $641 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.)
The seller bought the property on June 17, 2013, for $3.5 million. The signatory for R.A. Cohen & Associates was Robert A. Cohen . The signatory for Aaron Barg was Aaron Barg. The contract date was November 5, 2025.

Prior sales, articles and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Aaron Barg had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller R.A. Cohen & Associates purchased four properties in one transaction for a total of $11.5 million and sold two properties in two transactions for a total of $18.8 million over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Robert Cohen, head officer and Ralph Della Cava, officer. The business entities are Ra Cohen & Associates Inc. and 259 East Broadway Associates Llc. The 12,076-square-foot property generated revenue of $734,623 or $61 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The residential walkup building with 15 residential units in Lower East Side has 12,076 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 23 feet and is 95 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,185 square feet. The zoning is R7-2 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.8 million. The property has 9 rent regulated units according to city tax records from 2024.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received one housing violation and $300 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 10 of the 27 commercial properties representing 84,841 square feet of the 207,034 square feet. The largest owner is Vintage Group, followed by William Gottlieb Real Estate and then Jason Hoffman.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 89 percent of the 207,034 square feet of built space are walkup buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 11 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that R.A. Cohen & Associates owned at least 14 commercial properties with 241 residential units in New York City with 198,827 square feet and a city-determined market value of $67.3 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $50.7 million in debt, borrowed from JPMorgan Chase and First National Bank of Long Island. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 66 percent of the 198,827 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 31 percent of the space. The bulk, or 61 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 39 percent of the space.

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