Lightstone Group acquires office condos in Midtown for $14.6M through bankruptcy

Lightstone Group through the entity 32 W 39th St Owner LLC  through a bankruptcy acquired seven office condominium units at 32 West 39th Street in Grand Central, Manhattan, in a transaction valued at $14.6 million. The former owner, R&B Realty Group through the entity 32 W. 39th Street Sole Member LLC, led by Aron Rosenberg, filed for bankruptcy in 2024.
The deal closed on April 23, 2026 and was recorded on May 14, 2026. The seven properties have 33,553 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $435 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 the bankrupt affiliate of R&B Realty Group was David Wallace . The signatory for Lightstone Group was Joseph E. Teichman . The contract date was February 11, 2026. This is the lender taking back the property through bankruptcy. Lightstone Group in 2022 provided loans totaling $52 million covering this and other property, then the borrower filed bankruptcy in 2024.

The original loans was provided by Lightstone Group through its affiliated company, Lightstone Capital in turn through its entity LSC West 36th & 39th St LLC, which gave a $52 million loan to affiliates of R&B Realty Group, in March 2022, for the renovation of 28 West 36th Street and the conversion of 32 West 39th Street into office condominiums.

Prior sales, articles and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Lightstone Group purchased two properties in one transaction for a total of $27.2 million and sold four properties in three transactions for a total of $91.7 million over the past 24 months.
The seller R&B Realty Group had not purchased any other properties and sold six properties in three transactions for a total of $21.4 million over the same time period.

Violations and lawsuits

The properties were involved in two lawsuits and one bankruptcy over the past two years. The bankruptcy was filed on September 25, 2024, by R&B Realty Group, citing assets of $52.2 million. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have 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 Grand Central, The majority, or 83 percent of the 44.4 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space. In sales, Grand Central has the 5th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.4 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Grand Central is the 5th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 12 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 27 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were 352 pre-foreclosure suit filed among other office buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On the tax block of 32 West 39th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of 16 of the 27 commercial properties representing 1,408,875 square feet of the 1,903,078 square feet. The largest owner is Amazon, followed by Raizada S. Vaid and then Fortuna Realty Group.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 73,220 square feet. The largest is a 173-unit, 62,062 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Wei Hong Hu and filed by Wei Hong Hu with plans filed April 20, 2018 and permitted July 24, 2018. The second largest is a 299-unit, 11,158 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by Alan Reich with plans filed December 30, 2016 and permitted January 4, 2019.

The majority, or 70 percent of the 1.9 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 23 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that R&B Realty Group owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 9,876 square feet and a PincusCo-determined asset value of $8.9 million. The portfolio has $52 million in debt, borrowed from Lightstone Group. The portfolio consists of at least a single office property.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Lightstone Group owned at least 47 commercial properties with 2,634 residential units in New York City with 3,388,388 square feet and a PincusCo-determined asset value of $2.2 billion. The portfolio has $2.1 billion in debt, with top three lenders as Reznik Paz Nevo Trusts, JLL, and Goldman Sachs respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 50 percent of the 3,388,388 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with condo properties next occupying 29 percent of the space. The bulk, or 36 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Bronx next at 31 percent of the space.

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