Ruby Schron pays $25M for Coney Island retail site, plans mall expansion

Ruby Schron
Ruby Schron

Real estate investor Ruby Schron has forked out $25 million to buy a 49,000-square-foot building at 532 Neptune Avenue near Coney Island, according to public records filed with the city today. But the notoriously low-key real estate mogul isn’t just looking to be closer to the Cyclone.

Schron plans on tearing down a fence on the edge of the property and combining his latest acquisition with the adjacent Trump Village Shopping Center, which he has owned since the early 2000s, he told The Real Deal via a spokesperson. The three-story building he purchased has eight commercial units. Retailer Walgreens occupies the ground floor.

Schron has been active in the area for a decade. An investment group led by the businessman purchased a 6,000-unit apartment portfolio in the neighborhood from the family of property magnate Donald Trump in 2003. Trump’s father, Fred Trump, had reportedly acquired and developed the portfolio over the course of six decades.

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The seller of the Neptune Avenue property was Lake Success, N.Y.-based Norse Realty Group. Norse principal Michael Levine was not immediately available for comment.

The deal for the property closed January 24. It was not immediately clear if there were any brokers involved in the transaction.

As The Real Deal previously reported, Schron may be the next New York City real estate mogul to crack Forbes’ list of the 400 richest Americans, thanks to a recent deal for the Woolworth Building at 233 Broadway.