The Vaja Group Acquires $26.39M Entitled Astoria Development Site With Investment Property Realty Group
The Vaja Group has acquired a fully entitled mixed-use development site at 24-41 31st Street in Astoria, Queens, for $26.39 million, with Investment Property Realty Group arranging the transaction on the buyer's side.
The site, a former one-story Staples retail building, traded at approximately $176 per buildable square foot. Donal Flaherty, Partner at Investment Property Realty Group, represented The Vaja Group. Evan Daniel of Modern Spaces' Commercial Division represented the seller, 2441 Astoria Associates.
Site Details and Development Program
The property encompasses 29,638 square feet of land and carries approximately 149,733 buildable square feet of as-of-right development capacity. The site offers more than 443 feet of wraparound frontage along 31st Street, 24th Road and 32nd Street, and sits approximately one block from the Astoria Boulevard N/W subway station.
Zoned C4-5X/C4-4/R5B following the 31st Street–Hoyt Avenue rezoning, the entitlements support a 108-unit mixed-use development with approximately 14,000 square feet of retail space, community facility space, parking and permanently affordable housing delivered under the city's Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program. At the announced program size, the acquisition equates to approximately $244,000 per planned residential unit.
Expanding a Corridor Position
The 31st Street acquisition expands The Vaja Group's holdings along the corridor. Donal Flaherty also represented the developer in its prior acquisition of the adjacent Neptune Diner site, giving The Vaja Group control of contiguous, entitled frontage across a prominent stretch of 31st Street.
"Scale is the hardest thing to find in Astoria. You can buy a lot, but you can't buy a full block with 443 feet of frontage and entitlements already in hand," Flaherty said. "Vaja understood that immediately and moved decisively. Between this site and the Neptune parcel, they now control a stretch of 31st Street that will define the corridor for the next twenty years."
The 31st Street–Hoyt Avenue rezoning enabled a new mixed-use corridor along 31st Street, allowing for ground-floor retail, community facility space and permanently affordable housing. The entitlements reduce the development risk typically associated with unapproved land acquisitions, as zoning approvals are already in place.
Queens Investment Sales Market Context
The transaction comes amid a period of heightened investment activity across Queens. Borough-wide investment sales totaled approximately $2.6 billion during the first half of 2026, up 49% year over year. Development-site transaction volume increased 161% during the same period, while average pricing reached approximately $203 per buildable square foot for standard development sites.
A separate market breakdown recorded average pricing of approximately $159 per buildable square foot for sites subject to Mandatory Inclusionary Housing or Unified Affordable Preference requirements during the first half of 2026. The 24-41 31st Street acquisition's reported $176 per buildable square foot falls between those two benchmarks, reflecting the site's affordable-housing obligations alongside its scale and entitlement advantages.
In North Queens, development-site sales totaled $451.9 million across 29 land trades in the first half of 2026, though that activity was concentrated in Long Island City, where development sites averaged $294 per buildable square foot — a premium that reflects different commercial positioning and rezoning expectations relative to Astoria.
About the Firms
Investment Property Realty Group is a broker-owned commercial real estate brokerage specializing in investment sales, retail leasing and property management across New York City and New Jersey. Founded in 2016, the firm has completed more than $4 billion in commercial real estate transactions since its founding. Modern Spaces operates a commercial division that represented the seller in this transaction.