Zev Mayer pays $4.5M for dev site threatened by foreclosure in Far Rockaway

Zev Mayer through the entity 204B LLC paid $4.5 million to Choy Ling Lam through the entity Beach 28 LLC for the development parcel (V0) at 204 Beach 28th Street in Far Rockaway, Queens. The expected use is ground-up development. A lender to the seller filed a pre-foreclosure action in November 2024 alleging a loan secured by the property was in default, but that case was discontinued with this sale.
The deal closed on May 29, 2025 and was recorded on June 6, 2025. The property has zero square feet of built space and 65,475 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 65,475 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per buildable square foot is $68 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 February 4, 2016, for $1.1 million. The signatory for Choy Ling Lam was Choy Ling Lam. The signatory for Zev Mayer was Zev Mayer. The contract date was January 9, 2025.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Zev Mayer purchased two properties in two transactions for a total of $12.3 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Choy Ling Lam had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The parcel has frontage of 300 feet and is 182 feet deep with a total lot size of 52,380 square feet. The zoning is R5 which allows for up to 1.25 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.8 million. The most recent loan totaled $1.1 million and was provided by Hirshmark Capital on February 3, 2021.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in one lawsuit and zero bankruptcies over the past two years. The suit was a $1.4 million commercial foreclosure concerning a loan, filed on November 20, 2024, by Brick Capital Group against Choy Ling Lam. That case was discontinued last month, according to court documents filed May 29, 2025. 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 Far Rockaway, The majority, or 65 percent of the 12.8 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space. In sales, Far Rockaway has had very little sales volume relative to other neighborhoods with $146.8 million in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Far Rockaway has 1.5 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 3rd highest in Queens. It had 1.8 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 14 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other development buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the two commercial properties representing zero square feet of the zero square feet. The identified owner is Choy Ling Lam.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 61,813 square feet. It is a five-unit, 61,813 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Choy Lam with plans filed April 3, 2017 and it has not been permitted yet.

The majority, or 0 percent of the 0.0 square feet of built space are development buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 0 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Choy Ling Lam owned at least four commercial properties with 13 residential units in New York City with 19,901 square feet and a city-determined market value of $4.2 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $68.1 million in debt, with top three lenders as Benefit Street Partners, Midfirst Bank, and Hirshmark Capital respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 100 percent of the 19,901 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with development properties next occupying 0 percent of the space. They are all located in Brooklyn.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Zev Mayer owned at least four commercial properties with 152 residential units in New York City with 8,052 square feet and a city-determined market value of $4.6 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $42.9 million in debt, with top three lenders as Valley National Bank, Broadview Capital, and Broad X Funding respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 73 percent of the 8,052 square feet of built space are mixed-use properties, with development properties next occupying 27 percent of the space. The bulk, or 69 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Brooklyn next at 31 percent of the space.

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