Nonprofit Comunilife pays $13.5M to Francmen Realty for likely dev site in Jamaica

The nonprofit affordable housing services provider Comunilife paid $13.5 million to Francmen Realty’s Ronald Menashe for likely development site at 164-02 to 164-08 Jamaica Avenue, in Jamaica, Queens, in three separate transactions. Builder BRP Companies is developing two large residential projects on the tax block.

In the first transaction, Comunilife through the entity Comunilife Jamaica Housing Development Fund paid $6.8 million to Francmen Realty through the entity Francmen 16402 LLC for the retail building (K2) at 164-02 Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica, Queens.
The deal closed on April 9, 2025 and was recorded on May 6, 2025. The property has 19,000 square feet of built space and 62,050 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 81,029 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $355 and the price per buildable square foot is $83 per the PincusCo analysis.

In the second transaction, Comunilife through the entity Comunilife Jamaica Housing Development Fund paid $4 million to Francmen Realty through the entity Francmen 16408 LLC for the retail building (K1) at 164-08 Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica, Queens.
The deal closed on April 9, 2025 and was recorded on May 6, 2025. The property has 4,200 square feet of built space and 23,859 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 28,053 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $964 and the price per buildable square foot is $144 per the PincusCo analysis.

In the third transaction, Comunilife through the entity Comunilife Jamaica Housing Development Fund paid $2.7 million to Francmen Realty through the entity Francmen 16404 LLC for the retail building (K1) at 164-06 Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica, Queens.
The deal closed on April 9, 2025 and was recorded on May 6, 2025. The property has 2,200 square feet of built space and 14,766 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 16,964 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $1,227 and the price per buildable square foot is $159 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 Francmen Realty was Ronald Menashe . The signatory for Comunilife was Blanca J. Ramirez . The contract date was March 21, 2025.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Comunilife purchased one property in one transaction for a total of $3.6 million and sold three properties in one transaction for a total of $8 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Francmen Realty had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The 19,000-square-foot property generated revenue of $670,320 or $35 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The retail building in Jamaica has 19,000 square feet of built space and 62,050 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 81,029 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 36 feet and is 200 feet deep with a total lot size of 13,460 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C6-2 which allows for up to 6 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 6.02 times FAR for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.8 million. The most recent loan totaled $5.6 million and was provided by Signature Bank on April 28, 2020.

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 $4,000 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 Jamaica, The bulk, or 34 percent of the 29.2 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 14 percent of the space. In sales, Jamaica has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $293.4 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 5th highest in Queens. For development, Jamaica has 1.4 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 5th highest in Queens. It had 1.6 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 5 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other retail buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 12 of the 18 commercial properties representing 189,968 square feet of the 1,000,217 square feet. The largest owner is Faraj Srour, followed by Sol Goldman Investments and then Modell’s Sporting Goods.
On the tax block, there were two new building construction projects totaling 696,593 square feet. The largest, 420666176 at 92-33 Guy R Brewer Boulevard, is a 605-unit, 408,273 square-foot residential (R-2) building, submitted by BRP Companies and filed by Mary Serafy with plans filed August 7, 2019 and permitted April 25, 2022. The second largest Q01118133, at 163-25 Archer Avenue, is a 400-unit, 288,320 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by BRP Companies and filed by Mary Serafy with plans filed December 9, 2024 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 54 percent of the 1 million square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 25 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Comunilife owned at least four commercial properties with 320 residential units in New York City with 140,194 square feet and a city-determined market value of $15.9 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $156.9 million in debt, with top three lenders as NYS Housing Finance Agency, NYS Homeless Housing and Assistance Corporation, and Webster Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 66 percent of the 140,194 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with specialty properties next occupying 34 percent of the space. The bulk, or 66 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Brooklyn next at 34 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link