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Reflecting the growing demand among investors for rental apartment buildings in New York’s outer boroughs, Massey Knakal Realty Services, acting on an exclusive basis, has sold the Bassuk Portfolio – 14 apartment buildings in both Brooklyn and Queens in an all-cash transaction valued at $118 million.

“This portfolio was built up by my grandfather over many years and passed along to his five sons,” said Richard Bassuk, President of The Singer and Bassuk Organization (SBO), who initiated and directed the sale on behalf of the Bassuk family. “Until now we never considered selling the properties, but the dynamics of the current market made the deal very attractive.”

The deal reflects the growing interest by developers and investors in the rental building market that has spread from Manhattan to the outer boroughs.

The nine buildings in Queens are located in the Sunnyside, Jackson Heights, Richmond Hill and Woodhaven sections of the borough. The properties consist of 703 residential units and approximately 570,000 gross square feet.

The Bassuk family has owned and managed the properties for many decades. The $118 million Brooklyn and Queens transaction occurred at a capitalization rate of approximately 1 percent.

The properties were purchased by a joint venture between Bronstein Properties LLC and JP Morgan Asset Management.

Citizens Come To Hills

Citizens Bank celebrated its entry into the New York metropolitan area with the grand opening of a new branch in the Forest Hills section of Queens on Thursday, March 1, as part of an exclusive partnership agreement with Stop & Shop Supermarkets. The new branch, which provides the convenience of full-service banking seven days a week, is located at 89-89 Union Turnpike inside the Forest Hills Stop and Shop in Glendale.

The opening signaled the arrival of Citizens Bank, a subsidiary of Citizens Financial Group, Inc., in the New York metropolitan area. With more than 1,600 branches across 13 states, Citizens is the eighth-largest commercial banking company in the United States and is the nation’s second largest in-store bank – or supermarket banker.

Citizens operates 141 in-store banks in Stop & Shop Supermarkets in New England and New York, and continues to expand its partnership with plans for dozens of new in-store branches on Long Island, New York City and the Hudson Valley over the next three years.

As part of the grand opening, the Citizens Bank Foundation presented a $7,500 grant to the Forest Hills Community House to support its after-school enrichment program. The program provides a structured, educational after-school environment for more than five dozen children in grades K through 5. In addition to offering tutoring assistance to stimulate interest and passion for the arts and literacy, the program is designed to help bridge the cultural divide among area children for whom English is a second language.

The Forest Hills branch is open seven days a week: Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The branch manager is Dayanora Nino.

Fujian Expo Coming

You may ask, where in the world is Fujian? The answer will soon be Jackson Heights, as this Province of China with more than 32 million citizens will be able to showcase its low-cost industrial manufacturing selections and thousands of agricultural products in a new 120,000 sq. ft. exhibition center.

A team of Greiner-Maltz brokers made up of Richard Maltz, Lawrence Reiff, Charles Wong, and Adrian Smilovici represented both the seller of this 155,000 sq. ft. site, and the purchaser, Grandland Real Estate Development Company. Situated at LaGuardia Airport just off the East-West connecting road of Astoria Blvd.; “this development represents a change of land use from industrial (cardboard box manufacturing) to high value product showrooms which will transform a transitional neighborhood of bus yards, motels, and mixed use retail-office into a destination for merchants who are located throughout the entire Eastern Seaboard” reports Richard Maltz, Chairman of Greiner-Maltz.

For more information on this Greiner-Maltz transaction or any other available properties in the metropolitan area, please call John Maltz at 718-786-5050 or visit our Website at www.greinermaltz.com.

Welcome Aboard

At a time when many real estate investors are keen to secure a foothold in Queens as prices skyrocket in Manhattan, leading investment services firm Eastern Consolidated has hired two experts on the borough.

Harrison Douglas and Paul John “PJ” Paredes, both formerly with Massey Knakal Realty Services, have joined the firm as Associates.

As a Sales Associate, Douglas worked with the Massey Knakal partner who founded the firm’s Queens division and over the past year and a half has been involved in several sales there, forging strong relationships with local owners and investors. He also worked in the management division of Kinsor Management and in the legal division of CBRE.

He is a graduate of the School of Public Environmental Affairs at Indiana University having earned a degree in Business Management. Mr. Douglas is a resident of Manhattan.

In his position as Sales Director at Massey, Paredes focused on the sale of commercial and investment properties in Astoria. He performed valuations on all types of commercial and investment properties and was involved in the sale of a number of properties during his tenure there.