Astoria Lot Bought for $2.86M Gets 24-Unit Filing 195 Days Later

A buyer paid $2,860,000 for three Astoria lots, and 195 days after the Feb. 26 deed date filed for a 7-story, 24-unit building on one of them, per ACRIS and DOB NOW. A full-demolition filing followed Oct. 1. The seller, COJAM Construction, Inc., had held the lots since 2016.

Why it matters

The speed is the story. The deed to the buyer was dated Feb. 26 and recorded March 3, and the new-building job (Q01450056-I1) was filed Sept. 9 for 7 stories and 24 dwelling units at 8-48 Astoria Boulevard, block 513, lot 4. The demolition filing came three weeks later, on Oct. 1, with a $30,000 cost estimate and no existing dwelling units listed. The sale covered three tax lots, lots 2 and 3 on Welling Court plus lot 4, but only lot 4 carries the filings so far. On April 21, the buyer deeded all three lots to 8-48 Astoria LLC for a recorded $0, so the project now sits in a single-purpose entity. The DOB owner field reads only “PR”, which does not match that name. This is a read of public records; none of the parties has commented, and the filings do not show who will build or finance the project.

The numbers

The deed shows $2,860,000 for all three lots, or about $119,167 per proposed unit if the 24 units are built as filed. The new-building filing was in plan-examiner review as of Sept. 17, and a Sept. 26 amendment kept the same scope. The demolition filing is still pending plan-examiner assignment. COJAM’s own purchase in 2016 was by a deed that recorded $0, so the price it paid is not in ACRIS. We found no mortgage filed against the lots after the sale in the documents tied to these three lots.

What’s next

Watch for the demolition permit and for a mortgage or construction loan recorded against 8-48 Astoria LLC, which would show who is funding the project. The new-building job still has to clear plan examination before work can start. A similar deed-to-filing gap shows up at 620 Myrtle Avenue, and more is on the New York desk.