---
title: "Vaja Group Acquires Astoria Development Site at 24-41 31st Street for $26M"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/3e541411-2bfc-4e29-9704-589d71fa0192
source: "Commercial Observer"
original_url: https://commercialobserver.com/2026/09/vaja-group-buys-astoria-development-site-24-41-31st-street/
author: "Edavis"
category: "Real Estate"
topics: ["Finance & M&A"]
published: 2026-09-18T11:00:15.000Z
modified: 2026-10-31T13:17:29.746Z
image: https://commercialobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/09/24-41-31st-St_Donal-Flaherty-copy.jpg?quality=80&resize=1200%2C630&strip=
---

# Vaja Group Acquires Astoria Development Site at 24-41 31st Street for $26M

**TL;DR:** Vaja Group has acquired a development site at 24-41 31st Street in Astoria, Queens for $26.39 million. The site offers nearly 150,000 buildable square feet and can support a 108-unit mixed-use development.

*By Edavis, originally published in Commercial Observer on 2026-09-18. [Read the original](https://commercialobserver.com/2026/09/vaja-group-buys-astoria-development-site-24-41-31st-street/).*

## Story

**Moses Freund**’s **Vaja Group** is set to purchase another development site along the 31st Street corridor in Astoria, Queens, Commercial Observer has learned.

The developer will acquire Friday the one-story retail building at **24-41 31st Street** — a former **Staples** location — for $26.39 million, according to broker **IPRG**. The 29,638-square-foot site offers nearly 150,000 buildable square feet that would support a 108-unit mixed-use development, according to IPRG’s **Donal Flaherty**, who represented Vaja Group. The site can also accommodate 14,000 square feet of potential retail space and parking.

Located at the corner of 31st Street and 24th Road, Vaja’s acquisition sits across 24th Road from another development site purchase — the now-demolished Neptune Diner. Vaja picked up the diner in 2025 for $11 million, according to city records, and Flaherty arranged the sale.

Both site acquisitions were made possible by New York City’s 31st Street–Hoyt Avenue rezoning effort in 2022, which enabled a new mixed-use corridor along 31st Street.

“Scale is the hardest thing to find in Astoria,” Flaherty said in a statement. “You can buy a lot, but you can’t buy a full block with 443 feet of frontage and entitlements already in hand. Vaja understood that immediately and moved decisively.”

Earlier this year, Vaja Group also secured $84 million in bridge financing for another Astoria multifamily project, this one a 152-unit development at **11-14 35th Avenue**, CO reported.

**Modern Spaces**’ **Evan Daniel** represented the seller, **2441 Astoria Associates**. The entity is part of a project team that applied to rezone and redevelop the larger 31st Street site in 2021, according to New York YIMBY, alongside **MDM Development Group** and **31 Neptune**.

Daniel declined to comment on the transaction, and the offices of Charles Scaturro & Sons could not be immediately reached for comment.

## Entities

- new york (location)
- Real Estate (sector)
- Commercial Observer (publication)
- real estate investment (topic)
- Queens (location)
- Astoria (location)
- site acquisition (topic)
- IPRG (company)
- Donal Flaherty (person)
- Staples (company)
- Vaja Group (company)
- Moses Freund (person)

---
Originally reported by Edavis, Commercial Observer (https://commercialobserver.com/2026/09/vaja-group-buys-astoria-development-site-24-41-31st-street/). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/3e541411-2bfc-4e29-9704-589d71fa0192).