Mordechai Schwimmer pays $12M for 89-unit dev site in Astoria

Mordechai Schwimmer paid $12 million to the Pinto family for a five-parcel development site, that runs from 34-10 to 34-24 38th Street in Astoria, Queens, in two separate transactions.
On these lots, there is one active new building construction project, Q01150703, for an 89-unit, 63,880 square-foot residential (R-2) building. The project was submitted by Mordechai Schwimmer on January 2, 2025 and it has not been permitted yet.

In the first of the two transactions, Mordechai Schwimmer through the entity LIC 38 Realty LLC paid $7.8 million to Michelangelo Pinto through the entity Empire MG Properties, LLC for the industrial building (E1) at 34-24 38th Street in Astoria, Queens, industrial building (E1) at 34-12 38th Street in Astoria, Queens, and three-unit 1-4 family building (C0) at 34-22 38th Street in Astoria, Queens.
The deal closed on May 22, 2025 and was recorded on May 27, 2025. The three properties have 7,197 square feet of built space and 16,243 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 23,454 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,076 and the price per buildable square foot is $330 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 Michelangelo Pinto was Michelangelo Pinto. The signatory for Mordechai Schwimmer was Mordechai Schwimmer. The contract date was October 21, 2024.

In the second, Mordechai Schwimmer through the entity LIC 38 Realty LLC paid $4.2 million to Domenico Pinto and Maria Pinto for the two-unit 1-4 family building (B2) at 34-20 38th Street in Astoria, Queens and two-unit 1-4 family building (B2) at 34-10 38th Street in Astoria, Queens.
The deal closed on May 22, 2025 and was recorded on May 27, 2025. The two properties have 3,674 square feet of built space and 19,602 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 23,274 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,156 and the price per buildable square foot is $182 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 Domenico Pinto and Maria Pinto was Domenico Pinto and Maria Pinto. The signatory for Mordechai Schwimmer was Mordechai Schwimmer. The contract date was October 21, 2024.
The sale was an off-market transaction brokered by Landair Property Advisors’ Anand Melwani and Dean Abouelhassan.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Mordechai Schwimmer had purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $11.2 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Michelangelo Pinto had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. Out of the three properties, two with a total of 7,197 square feet of built space generated revenue of $112,582 per year.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received $2,500 in ECB penalties and $2,800 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 2.4 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $647.8 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 3rd 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 were two pre-foreclosure suit filed among other industrial buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On the tax block of 34-24 38th Street, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the 11 commercial properties representing 93,436 square feet of the 127,557 square feet. The largest owner is Parkoff Organization, followed by Anthony Coutsoukes and then Angelo Chiarelli.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 81,887 square feet. The largest is a 89-unit, 63,880 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Mordechai Schwimmer and filed by Mordechai Schwimmer with plans filed January 2, 2025 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 25-unit, 18,007 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Nelson Leong with plans filed August 24, 2021 and permitted June 3, 2022.

The majority, or 54 percent of the 127,557 square feet of built space are retail buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 36 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Mordechai Schwimmer owned at least eight commercial properties with 131 residential units in New York City with 43,038 square feet and a city-determined market value of $12.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $88.6 million in debt, with top three lenders as Bank of Princeton, BridgeCity Capital, and Valley National Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 49 percent of the 43,038 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 36 percent of the space. The bulk, or 87 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 13 percent of the space.

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