First Pioneer Properties Buys Queens Retail Center for $24M

New York-based real estate management and development firm First Pioneer Properties, along with ABS Partners Real Estate, has acquired a Queens retail center from Levy Properties for $23.5 million, property records made public Thursday show. 

The one-story property at 213-04 Northern Boulevard in Bayside is currently home to an urgent care medical office and Bebeang Baby Store. 

Jennifer Markowitz of Levy Properties signed the deal for the seller, while Suresh Sani, owner of First Pioneer Properties, signed for the buyers. ABS seems to act as a frequent co-investor and partner of First Pioneer Properties.

It’s unclear who brokered the deal. The buyers and seller did not immediately respond to Commercial Observer’s requests for comment. 

The property has 24,000 square feet of built space and 74,350 square feet of additional air rights for a total of 98,478 buildable square feet, according to data from PincusCo.

The buyers’ intentions for the property are unclear, but Queens has been awash with multifamily developments lately. This month, Wells Fargo provided a $175 million construction loan to the Domain Companies for a 429-unit mixed-income housing development at 35-45, 35-33 and 35-42 41st Street in Astoria. Also this month, LMXD and BedRock Real Estate Partners closed on a $250 million loan to build a housing development at 35-10 Steinway Street in Astoria.

Earlier this summer, another Queens retail property changed hands when Punia & Marx Real Estate sold the Whitestone Shopping Center at 153-15 Cross Island Parkway for $56 million. Meanwhile, a historic Queens bowling alley — Whitestone Lanes — at 30-05 Whitestone Expressway in Flushing — sold for $45 million in June as part of a major multifamily development project coming to the area.

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com.