Frank Tehrani, Payam Moradof pay $11.1M for dev site in Astoria

Frank Tehrani and Payam Moradof through the entity La Casa Tua LLC paid $11.1 million to Lois Witkoff and the estate of Martin L. Birnbaum for the mixed-use building (K1) at 47-07 Broadway in Astoria, Queens. The broker handling the sale marketed the property as a development site.
This is not the buyers first acquisition together. Frank Tehrani and Payam Moradof partnered to buy a parcel at 138-28 Queens Boulevard in Briarwood, Queens, in 2016 for $6.1 million, then developed a new 64-unit, mixed-use building and in January 2023 refinanced it with a $21.5 million permanent loan from Santander Bank.
The new Astoria deal closed on February 24, 2023 and was recorded on March 6, 2023. The property has 25,058 square feet of built space and 29,438 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 54,516 square feet according to PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $442 and the price per buildable square foot is $203 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 signatory for Lois Witkoff and Martin L. Birnbaum estate was Lois Witkoff and Lawrence S. Blumberg. The signatory for Frank Tehrani and Payam Moradof was Frank Tehrani. The contract date was December 1, 2022. Traded NY reported on the sale with the broker Josh Goldflam of Highcap Group but did not disclose the buyer.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Frank Tehrani had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.

The property

The 47-07 Broadway parcel has frontage of 200 feet and is 211 feet deep with a total lot size of 27,258 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R6B which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.7 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property since September of 2020. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received one DOB violation and $75 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 $5 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Astoria, the bulk, or 36 percent of the 40.1 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 31 percent of the space. In sales, Astoria has 3.2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $1.1 billion in sales volume in the last two years and is the 2nd highest in Queens. For development, Astoria has 3.2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 4th highest in Queens. It had 3.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 8 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

All properties are mixed-use.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Payam Moradof owned at least five commercial properties in New York City with 114,333 square feet and a city-determined market value of $14 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.)  Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 61 percent of the 114,333 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 37 percent of the space. The bulk, or 77 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Brooklyn next at 23 percent of the space.
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Frank Tehrani owned at least three commercial properties in New York City with 82,624 square feet and a city-determined market value of $9.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 84 percent of the 82,624 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 16 percent of the space. The bulk, or 84 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Brooklyn next at 9 percent of the space.

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