Ben-Josef Group Holdings pays $18M to Durst Organization for dev site in Midtown West

Ben-Josef Group Holdings paid $18 million to the Durst Organization for development parcels in Midtown West, in two transactions. These add to another property the developer recently acquired on the block, a hotel at 130 West 44th Street.
In the larger of the two new transactions, Ben-Josef Group Holdings through the entity 136 W44 Development LLC paid $12.6 million to the Durst Organization through the entity 136 W44th St Mirror LLC for the development building (V1) at 136 West 44th Street in Midtown West, Manhattan. The expected use is ground up development.
The deal closed on April 24, 2026 and was recorded on May 5, 2026. The property has zero square feet of built space and 35,150 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 35,150 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per buildable square foot is $359 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 December 31, 2012, for $18 million. The signatory for Durst Organization was Alexander Durst . The signatory for Ben-Josef Group Holdings was Asaf Dror . The contract date was April 24, 2026.

In the second transaction, Ben-Josef Group Holdings through the entity 140 W44 Development LLC paid $5.4 million to Durst Organization through the entity Eastern Pork Products Co. for the two-unit retail building (O5) at 140 West 44th Street in Times Square, Manhattan. The expected use is ground up development.
The deal closed on April 24, 2026 and was recorded on May 5, 2026. The property has 3,000 square feet of built space and 12,063 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 15,060 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,805 and the price per buildable square foot is $359 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.)

Prior sales, articles and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Ben-Josef Group Holdings purchased five properties in five transactions for a total of $158.9 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Durst Organization purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $5 million and sold 86 properties in seven transactions for a total of $302.8 million over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Douglas Durst, head officer and Jonathan Durst, officer. The business entities are Royal Realty Corp. and 136 W 44th St Mirror Llc.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 35 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 3,515 square feet. The zoning is C6-5.5 which allows for up to 12 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $4.2 million.

Transaction Participants

Asaf Dror at Asaf Dror, P.C. participated in the transaction on behalf of the buyer.

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 not received any significant violations 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 neighborhood

In Midtown West, The majority, or 75 percent of the 75.9 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 14 percent of the space. In sales, Midtown West has the 3rd highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $4.4 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Midtown West is the 2nd most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 41.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 54 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 10 of the 14 commercial properties representing 1,795,047 square feet of the 2,068,863 square feet. The largest owner is Durst Organization, followed by Tamares Group and then Jacob Orfali.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 74 percent of the 2.1 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Durst Organization owned at least 53 commercial properties with 2,598 residential units in New York City with 10,277,254 square feet and a PincusCo-determined asset value of $7.9 billion. The portfolio has $6.3 billion in debt, with top three lenders as Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Bank of America respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 76 percent of the 10,277,254 square feet of built space are office properties, with elevator properties next occupying 16 percent of the space. The bulk, or 85 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Queens next at 14 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Ben-Josef Group Holdings owned at least nine commercial properties with 218 residential units in New York City with 452,370 square feet and a PincusCo-determined asset value of $329.2 million. The portfolio has $201.7 million in debt, borrowed from Ben-Josef Group Holdings and Bank of America. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 38 percent of the 452,370 square feet of built space are office properties, with elevator properties next occupying 20 percent of the space. The bulk, or 56 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 43 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link
Direct link to Acris document. link