ZD Jasper pays $16.6M to Robert Gans for Astoria dev site

UPDATED, 11:05 a.m., December 17, 2024: ZD Jasper Realty through the entity ZDJ Steinway LLC paid $16.6 million to Robert Gans through the entity 34 Steinway Street LLC for the development site which is currently a mixed-use, 25,475-square-foot building at 34-39 Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens.

The deal closed on December 4, 2024 and was recorded on December 17, 2024. The contract date was July 30, 2024. The mixed-use, two-story building in Astoria has 25,475 square feet of built space on an approximately 24,000-square-foot lot. The total buildable appears to be about 71,325 square feet, which would be about $233 per square foot.

The signatory for Robert Gans was Robert Gans. The signatory for ZD Jasper Realty was Zhidong Wu. Ponce Bank provided a $10.82 million acquisition loan. The sale process included a contract Robert Gans signed with an intermediary, who then flipped the contract to ZD Jasper Realty, according to sources familiar with the transaction.

Robert Gans lost a large portfolio through a foreclosure then bankruptcy to a joint venture of Extell Development, Bluestone Group and Princeton Real Estate Partners. This property was not part of that case.

Titan Capital ID filed a pre-foreclosure at this Astoria building occupied by Gans’s Metropolitan Lumber & Hardware in March, alleging the $10.5 million loan was in default, as PincusCo reported at the time.

Joshua Pomerantz of SP Capital Group brokered the sale on behalf of the seller and the intermediary contract vendee.

ZD Jasper Realty is an active developer. It has purchased at least two parcels from Extell Development.

The property

The mixed-use building in Astoria has 25,475 square feet of built space and 116,973 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 142,650 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 250 feet and is 95 feet deep with a total lot size of 47,550 square feet. The zoning is C4-2A which allows for up to 3 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 3 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.5 million. The most recent loan totaled $10.5 million and was provided by Titan Capital ID on September 20, 2019.

Prior sales and revenue

The 25,475-square-foot property generated revenue of $661,093 or $26 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

Development

Over the past five years, there has been no NYC Department of Buildings new building, demolition, or alteration permit application valued at more than $20,000 filed for this parcel.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received one DOB violation in the last year.

The property was involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $10.5 million commercial foreclosure concerning a loan filed on March 21, 2024, by Titan Capital ID against Robert Gans.

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 near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $562.8 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 1.2 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 this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the eight commercial properties representing 66,378 square feet of the 197,183 square feet. The two identified owners are Ben Biordi and Robert Gans. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Robert Gans owned at least two commercial properties in New York City with 28,925 square feet and a city-determined market value of $5.5 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $10.5 million in debt, borrowed from Titan Capital ID. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 88 percent of the 28,925 square feet of built space are mixed-use properties, with industrial properties next occupying 12 percent of the space. The bulk, or 88 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Manhattan next at 12 percent of the space.

The surrounding

This is the first commercial real estate event of interest identified within the 400-foot radius of 34-49 Steinway Street in the past 24 months.

Correction: A prior version of this post used the wrong buildable square foot based on incorrect city data for the lot area, which the city provided as 47,550 square feet, but is actually about 24,000 square feet. In addition, information about the contract flip was added and the broker.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.