Last week in the $10 million to $20 million investment sales market, a controversial motel in Astoria sold for $12 million and Veracity Real Estate picked up a pair of rental buildings in the Lower East Side. Without further adieu, here’s a run-down of the top i-sales on the week:
1.) ALDO Shoes lost ownership of its outpost on Lexington Avenue. Ben Ashkenazy’s Ashkenazy Acquisition bought the low-rise commercial building at 730 Lexington Avenue from the Canadian-based retailer for $18.5 million, or more than $4,500 per square foot. ALDO is the sole tenant in the 4,100-square-foot building, located between East 58th and 59th streets. It’s not immediately clear if the shoes and accessories retailer will leave the space, or if Ashkenazy plans to take advantage of the 14,000 buildable square feet the property offers.
2.) Veracity Real Estate purchased a pair of multifamily buildings on the Lower East Side from Lucky Bhalla’s Ascot Properties for $16 million. The five-story walkups hold 37 rental apartments and three ground-floor commercial units, including the southern-style restaurant Birds & Bubbles.
3.) Investor Shaul Kopelowitz is taking ownership of a mixed-use building at 273 West 131st Street in Harlem. Kopelowitz acquired the eight-story building from Teaneck, N.J.-based Treetop Development for $14.9 million. The building spans nearly 60,00 square feet along the corner of Frederick Douglass Boulevard and 132nd Street. It has 44 rental apartments and four commercial units. Treetop paid $8.6 million for the building in 2014.
4.) A condo-turned-rental property at 232 Mott Street in Nolita sold for $14.7 million. Lyco Investments purchased the six-unit building from Veracity Real Estate. The building has five-full floor apartments and a salon on the ground floor. Veracity dropped less than $2 million for the property more than a decade ago.
5.) An industrial building at 49-29 Metropolitan Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens traded hands for $13.8 million. A delivery company operates out of the 51,000-square-foot warehouse, adjacent to the Storage Post building. The new owner is Chloe Realty USA.
6.) Khedouri Ezair Corp. bought a four-unit rental building at 1234 Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side for $13.4 million. The building has two newly renovated apartments and two commercial units. It spans just over 4,000 square feet and has an additional 10,000 buildable square feet for residential use. Nazem Zelkha is the seller.
7.) The Westway Motor Inn Motel in Astoria has a new owner. Landlord Joel Shafran purchased the former motel, along with four adjacent vacant panels along Ditmas and Astoria boulevards for $12 million from longtime owner David Spies. The Department of Homeless Services approved plans in 2014 to convert the motel into a permanent shelter for homeless families, despite ardent opposition from neighbors. No plans have officially been filed with the Department of Buildings to redevelop the site. Shafran owns several hotels through the city.
(Source: ACRIS data for closed sales between Jan. 4- Jan. 10, and Reonomy data)