Leemar Management buys Jackson Heights rental for $26M

70-unit elevator property last sold in 1970s

35-33 83rd Street in Jackson Heights (inset: Marco Lala)
35-33 83rd Street in Jackson Heights (inset: Marco Lala)

UPDATED, 5:22 p.m., Dec. 28: Lee Wallach’s Leemar Management paid $25.5 million for a six-story rental building in Jackson Heights, a northwestern Queens neighborhood often overlooked by multifamily investors.

The 78,378-square-foot elevator property at 35-33 83rd Street sold for the first time in more than 40 years. The Long Island-based management firm closed on the purchase last week for $325 per square foot, one of the higher prices in the area, according to Marcus & Millichap’s Marco Lala, who served as the broker.

On a price-per-unit basis for a non-new-construction asset, the deal was one of the most expensive in Jackson Heights, at nearly $365,000 per unit, Lala said.

The building, constructed in 1930, has 70 apartments and a 13,000-square-foot basement. Rents range from $962 to $2,800 per month. Lala and his team marketed it as a long-term investment opportunity.

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The seller is Astoria-based Vorillas Management.

Leemar was founded in 1991 and largely invests in multifamily properties outside of the city. The firm’s plans for the building were not immediately clear.

Multifamily investors turn to Jackson Heights to buy, but not at the frequency of neighborhoods such as Rego Park and Kew Gardens. In October, Douglas Eisenberg and John Arrillaga Jr.’s A&E Real Estate bought a 144-unit elevator building on 95th Street in the neighborhood for $22 million, or a mere $197 a foot. In 2013, Long Island-based BRG acquired a 19-building Queens portfolio, most of which was in Jackson Heights, for $68 million.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the seller. It is Vorillas Management.