Ben Ashkenazy dumps Midtown retail building at $6M loss

The middle of the city’s i-sales market cooled last week, notching just three sales after a frenzy of residential dealmaking. But despite the paucity of transactions, the pandemic’s forces shone through in those that were completed.

A logistics site sold in Staten Island and Ben Ashkenazy shed a retail property (he’s not the only one dumping retail) two blocks east of Madison Avenue.

Here are more details on the investment sales between $10 million and $30 million recorded during the third week of October, which collectively fetched $38.2 million, down from $245 million the week before.

1. Simi Capital Group bought a 279,000-square-foot logistics site at 2577 Forest Avenue in Staten Island for $19 million. It partnered with Cerberus Capital Management on the deal. Near the Goethals Bridge, the site will provide outdoor storage for semi-truck trailers. An affiliate of Keepers Self Storage was the seller.

2. Ben Ashkenazy of Ashkenazy Acquisitions sold a 4,100-square-foot retail building at 730 Lexington Avenue in Midtown for a humbling $12.7 million. Amerant Bank affiliate MCNA Properties IV bought the site; Miguel Palacios signed the sales deed. Ashkenazy acquired the four-story building in 2016 for $18.5 million. Shoe retailer Aldo closed its store there, depressing the property’s value.

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Historic Stone Street buildings, UWS apartments lead light week for i-sales

3. Platinum Realty’s David Koptiev sold a 13,700-square-foot development site at 91-32 63 Drive, also known as 63-68 Austin Street, in Rego Park for $10.5 million. The Queens site was rezoned in 2020 to allow for a 68,500-square-foot, mixed-use building; it was acquired by Platinum Realty in 2018 for $6.5 million. The buyer was Yin Chou Hu through limited liability company Austin Plaza.