A Brooklyn developer has scooped up five contiguous buildings along a block in Astoria with plans to raze them and put up a residential project in their place, records show.
Mordechai Schwimmer, using the Williamsburg-based limited liability company LIC 38 Realty, purchased the string of low-rise residential and industrial buildings on 38th Street between 34th and 35th avenues for a combined $12.1 million, according to the deeds, which hit the city register Tuesday. It was not immediately clear if the buildings were vacant at the time of the sale.
Schwimmer acquired three of the properties — two 1-story warehouse buildings at 34-12 and 34-24 38th St. and one 2-story walk-up apartment building at 34-22 38th St. — from Long Island City-based entity Empire MG Properties for $7.8 million, according to one of the deeds. Michelangelo Pinto signed the documents on behalf of the seller, records show. Schwimmer also acquired two 2-story apartment buildings for $4.3 million from husband-and-wife pair Domenico and Maria Pinto, according to a second deed.
David Rosenbaum, an attorney at Rockland County-based law firm Berman, Boyle & Engel, which represented both sellers in the transactions, did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
The ink had barely dried on the deeds by the time Schwimmer filed permits to demolish all five of the 38th Street buildings, records show. Through the entity 1605 NY Realty LLC, which is tied to the same Williamsburg location as the LLC that bought the properties, Schwimmer also submitted plans for a 9-story residential building to rise at 34-20 38th St., according to the permits filed with the Department of Buildings.
The proposed building would include 89 dwelling units, 23 of which would be income-restricted; storage and outdoor recreation space; as well as parking spaces for both cars and bicycles, records show. It’s unclear if the project would take up the entire parcel or if other plans are in the works as well. Schwimmer did not return a request for comment by press time.
