Heights Advisors pays $12.2M to St. John’s for dev site in Auberndale

Heights Advisors through the entity Heights Horace Harding LLC paid $12.2 million to St. John’s University through the entity St. John’S University, New York for the specialty building (W8) at 175-05 Horace Harding Expressway in Auberndale, Queens.

The Commercial Observer reported Heights Advisors were seeking to demolish and rebuild residential on the site.
The deal closed on May 28, 2025 and was recorded on June 11, 2025. The property has 42,750 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $286 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 27, 2006, for $4.2 million. The signatory for St. John’s University was Joseph E. Oliva. The signatory for Heights Advisors was Rachel Foster . The contract date was April 6, 2023.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Heights Advisors had purchased any other properties and sold three properties in two transactions for a total of $80.8 million over the past 24 months.
The seller St. John’s University had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The specialty building in Auberndale has 42,750 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 159 feet and is 170 feet deep with a total lot size of 35,123 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R3-2 which allows for up to 0.5 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $6.1 million.

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 $700 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 neighborhood

In Auberndale, The bulk, or 33 percent of the 1.8 million square feet of commercial built space are specialty buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space. In sales, Auberndale has the 46th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Queens with $14.2 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Auberndale has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 22,179 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 1 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

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

All properties are specialty.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that St. John’S University owned at least one commercial property with six residential units in New York City with 4,687,440 square feet and a city-determined market value of $582.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single specialty property. It is located in Queens.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Heights Advisors owned at least one commercial property with 165 residential units in New York City with 136,490 square feet and a city-determined market value of $20.4 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single elevator property. It is located in Brooklyn.

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