Platinum Realty, Richard Chera pay $19M to Crown for retail, office in Kew Gardens

Platinum Realty Associates and Richard Chera through the entity 132-40 Metro Owner LLC paid $19 million to Crown Acquisitions through several entities including HC Metropolitan LLC for the mixed-use building (K9) at 132-40 Metropolitan Avenue in Kew Gardens, Queens. The expected use is cash flowing.
The deal closed on October 1, 2025 and was recorded on October 15, 2025. The property has 40,595 square feet of built space and 75,208 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 115,668 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $468 and the price per buildable square foot is $164 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 Crown Acquisitions was Richard Chera. The signatory for Platinum Realty Associates and Richard Chera was Richard Chera. The contract date was September 26, 2025. The Chera family’s Crown Acquisitions is the seller, and the buyer is Platinum along with Richard Chera of Crown.

Crown Acquisitions first acquired a stake in the property in April 2008 through the $4.9 million purchase of a ground lease that started in 1960. After that, Crown began buying stakes in the fee from individual owners. The ground lease was terminated in July 2025 and the fee and ground lease interests united.

To finance the purchase, Platinum and Chera through the entity 132-40 Metro Owner LLC as borrower signed an acquisition loan with lender Societe Generale through the entity Societe Generale Financial Corporation valued at $15.1 million.
The deal closed on October 1, 2025 and was recorded on October 15, 2025. The prior lender was Series 2015-GC3 which held debt that had an original loan amount of $18 million.The property has 40,595 square feet of built space and 75,208 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 115,668 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $371 and the price per buildable square foot is $130 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 Platinum Realty Associates and Richard Chera was David Koptiev . The signatory for Societe Generale was Justin Cappuccino .

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Platinum Realty Associates purchased 15 properties in 12 transactions for a total of $50.9 million and sold two properties in one transaction for a total of $4 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Crown Acquisitions purchased two properties in two transactions for a total of $39 million and sold seven properties in four transactions for a total of $89.4 million over the same time period. The 40,595-square-foot property generated revenue of $2.5 million or $61 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The mixed-use building in Kew Gardens has 40,595 square feet of built space and 75,208 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 115,668 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 524 feet and is 182 feet deep with a total lot size of 47,600 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.43 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $11.7 million.

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 not received any significant violations in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on December 12, 2013. 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 Kew Gardens, The bulk, or 47 percent of the 6.8 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space. In sales, Kew Gardens has the 34th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in Queens with $34.9 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Kew Gardens has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 412,514 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 57 percent of the 70,995 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with office buildings next occupying 35 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Crown Acquisitions owned at least five commercial properties with 107 residential units in New York City with 608,432 square feet and a city-determined market value of $555.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $21.2 million in debt, borrowed from East West Bank and BankUnited. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 74 percent of the 608,432 square feet of built space are office properties, with D4 properties next occupying 24 percent of the space. The bulk, or 98 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 2 percent of the space.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Platinum Realty Associates owned at least 91 commercial properties with 60 residential units in New York City with 538,473 square feet and a city-determined market value of $118 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $60.8 million in debt, with top three lenders as Signature Bank, First National Bank of Long Island, and Customers Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 68 percent of the 538,473 square feet of built space are retail properties, with mixed-use properties next occupying 25 percent of the space. The bulk, or 59 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Brooklyn next at 34 percent of the space.

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