May 1st, 2017, by Connect CRE

Investors paid top dollar for a renovated apartment property in the Ditmars-Steinway section of the Astoria neighborhood in Queens.

“It’s remarkable that an area of Queens has become more expensive than Upper Manhattan… the price per foot has risen 50 to 60% in five years,” said Greg Corbin of the  Besen Group, which represented the buyer in the sale of the property at 24-10 – 24-20 29th St.

Investors paid $11.4 million for three four-story buildings built in 1935, with a total of 27 apartments and 25,000 gross square feet. That works out to a high price of $421,000 or $455 per square foot.

“This was a rare opportunity to acquire a trophy apartment building with an attractive unit mix and low market rents in prime Astoria,” said Aaron Kline of the Besen Group. Perhaps because of the potential to raise rents at the property, the buyer was willing to pay a high price that worked out to a capitalization rate of just 3.8% — which is low, even for New York City.