Newark-based KS Group pays $45M to Alma for stake in Astoria project

Newark, New Jersey-based KS Group through the entity KS Astoria Holdings LLC paid $45 million to Alma Realty through the entity 2030 Astoria Developers LLC for four development parcels at 8-01 26th Avenue, 8-51 26th Avenue, 4-57 26th Avenue and 4-34 26th Avenue, in Astoria, Queens. The expected use is ground up development.

The Commercial Observer reported last month on the project, that has secured $300 million in financing and expects an additional $900 million in future financing.
The deal closed on March 21, 2025 and was recorded on April 7, 2025. The four properties have 131,798 square feet of built space and 507,009 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 609,028 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $341 and the price per buildable square foot is $73 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 Alma Realty was Efstathios Valiotis . The contract date was August 9, 2023. KS Group, based in Newark, is led by Yehuda Kotkes and Daniel Spiegel. This is the first purchase PincusCo shows for them in New York City in at least five years. Crain’s reported in 2017 that Alma Realty was looking to sell parcels including these for about $350 million.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer KS Group had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Alma Realty purchased seven properties in seven transactions for a total of $60.8 million and sold three properties in two transactions for a total of $8.3 million over the same time period. Out of the four properties, one with a total of 131,798 square feet of built space generated revenue of $3.5 million 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 $7,500 in ECB penalties and $11,875 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

On these lots, there are four active new building construction projects and major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million, totaling 262,093 square feet. The largest, Q00646754, is a new building project for a 90-unit, 89,162 square-foot R-2 building submitted by Cape Advisors and filed by David Kronman with plans filed January 13, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest, Q00646746, is a new building project for a 61-unit, 81,627 square-foot R-2 building submitted by Cape Advisors and filed by David Kronman with plans filed January 13, 2022 and permitted November 29, 2024.

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 2.2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $576.3 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 1.3 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.

The block

On the tax block of 8-01 26th Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the two commercial properties representing 27,500 square feet of the 27,500 square feet. The identified owner is Alma Realty.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 124,245 square feet. The largest is a 90-unit, 89,162 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Cape Advisors and filed by David Kronman with plans filed January 13, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet. The second largest is a 241-unit, 35,083 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Cape Advisors and filed by David Kronman with plans filed January 13, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

All properties are industrial.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Alma Realty owned at least 143 commercial properties with 6,388 residential units in New York City with 7,064,573 square feet and a city-determined market value of $715 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $682.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as Deutsche Bank, New York Community Bank, and Efstathios Valiotis respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 67 percent of the 7,064,573 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with walkup properties next occupying 20 percent of the space. The bulk, or 38 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Queens next at 30 percent of the space.

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