Malachite Group pays $2.1M to cannabis retail owner for mixed-use in Astoria

Manouchehr Malekan’s Malachite Group through the entity Steinway Twins LLC paid $2.1 million to the owner of CBD Kratom through the entity Mid County StL LLC for the mixed-use building (K2) at 30-16 Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens. The expected use is cash flowing. CBD Kratom is a St. Louis-based cannabis seller.
The deal closed on May 30, 2025 and was recorded on June 13, 2025. The property has 3,625 square feet of built space and 3,175 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 6,804 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $579 and the price per buildable square foot is $308 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 9, 2022, for $2.2 million. The signatory for CBD Kratom was David Palatnik . The signatory for Malachite Group was Manouchehr Malekan . The contract date was March 28, 2025.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Malachite Group purchased two properties in one transaction for a total of $18.4 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller CBD Kratom had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The mixed-use building in Astoria has 3,625 square feet of built space and 3,175 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 6,804 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 25 feet and is 90 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,268 square feet. The zoning is C4-2A which allows for up to 3 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 3 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $618,000.

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 DOB violation, $2,850 in ECB penalties, and $2,850 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 Astoria, The bulk, or 36 percent of the 40.2 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 31 percent of the space. In sales, Astoria has 2.5 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $660.4 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 2nd highest in Queens. For development, Astoria has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 7th highest in Queens. It had 1.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 3 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other mixed-use buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of eight of the 52 commercial properties representing 37,653 square feet of the 228,968 square feet. The largest owner is David Weinman, followed by Kwang On Bang and then Ira Appelbaum.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 6,696 square feet. It is a five-unit, 6,696 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by John Budis with plans filed November 22, 2019 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 51 percent of the 228,968 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with retail buildings next occupying 22 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Malachite Group owned at least one commercial property in New York City with 3,625 square feet and a city-determined market value of $579,000. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $18.6 million in debt, with top three lenders as Flushing Bank, Malachite Group, and CBD Kratom respectively. The portfolio consists of at least a single mixed-use property. It is located in Queens.

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