Steven Sasson of ABC Super Stores signs $10M refi for new school building in Ridgewood

Steven Sasson of ABC Super Stores through the entity 63-57 Fresh Pond Rd, LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Deutsche Bank through the entity DBR Investments Co. Limited valued at $10 million for the newly built school building (W9) at 63-57 Fresh Pond Road in Ridgewood, Queens.
The deal closed on April 21, 2025 and was recorded on May 23, 2025. The prior lender was Flagstar Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $2.7 million. The property has 36,849 square feet of built space and 2,561 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 39,400 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $271 and the price per buildable square foot is $253 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 owner bought the property on January 30, 2014, for $5.5 million. The signatory for Steven Sasson was Steven Sasson. This property is leased to the NYC Department of Education. Steven Sasson owns the NYC-based discount retailer ABC Super Stores formerly led by his father Jack Sasson.

The property

The specialty building in Ridgewood has 36,849 square feet of built space and 2,561 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 39,400 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 197 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 19,700 square feet. The zoning is R6B which allows for up to 2 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $8.3 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 September 17, 2024. 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 Ridgewood, The bulk, or 38 percent of the 20 million square feet of commercial built space are walkup buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 29 percent of the space. In sales, Ridgewood has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $167.2 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Ridgewood has 1.2 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 6th highest in Queens. It had 1.5 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 7 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

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

The majority, or 84 percent of the 22,658 square feet of built space are retail buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 16 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Steven Sasson owned at least three commercial properties in New York City with 64,301 square feet and a city-determined market value of $20.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $8 million in debt, borrowed from Deutsche Bank. Within the portfolio, all identified are retail properties. The bulk, or 66 percent of the built space, is in Brooklyn, with Queens next at 34 percent of the space.

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