Westside Market founder pays $1.9M for mixed-use in Astoria

Westside Market founder John Zoitas through the entity 2846 31 Street Realty LLC paid $1.9 million to Rosa M. Bolanos and Jorge J. Bolanos through the entity Bolanos, Jorge J for the mixed-use building (S1) at 28-46 31st Street in Astoria, Queens.
The deal closed on May 26, 2023 and was recorded on June 12, 2023. The property has 2,400 square feet of built space and 5,600 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 8,000 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $770 and the price per buildable square foot is $231 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 seller bought the property on December 19, 2012, for $900,000. The signatory for Rosa M. Bolanos and Jorge J. Bolanos was Rosa M. Bolanos and Jorge J. Bolanos. The signatory for John Zoitas was John Zoitas. The buyer John Zoitas is the founder of Westside Market grocery chain.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer John Zoitas had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Rosa M. Bolanos had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The mixed-use building with 1 residential units in Astoria has 2,400 square feet of built space and 5,600 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 8,000 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 20 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 2,000 square feet. The zoning is C4-4A which allows for up to 4 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 4 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.2 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

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 3.2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $1.1 billion in sales volume in the last two years and is the 2nd highest in Queens. For development, Astoria has 3.1 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 4th highest in Queens. It had 3.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 8 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the 21 commercial properties representing 4,115 square feet of the 81,059 square feet. The two identified owners are Verizon and Charles Kally.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 53 percent of the 81,059 square feet of built space are mixed-use buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 22 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Jorge J. Bolanos owned at least one commercial property with 58 residential units in New York City with 47,636 square feet and a city-determined market value of $5.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $8.3 million in debt, borrowed from New York Community Bank. The portfolio consists of at least a single walkup property. It is located in Queens.

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