While Manhattan brokers obsess over Madison Avenue flagstones, the most fiercely contested retail corridor by sales per square foot in New York City sits directly across from the Staten Island Mall on Richmond Avenue. Jeff Olson's Urban Edge Properties paid $31.2 million ($351 a foot) to buy the 89,000-square-foot grocery-anchored strip at 2455 Richmond Avenue from Kimco Realty, complete with 240,000 square feet of surface parking and a 6.7 percent cap rate. When the deed closed on February 5, 2026, Urban Edge Properties (Jeff Olson) had officially taken down 2455 Richmond Avenue from Kimco Realty Corporation for $31.2 million, with Eastdil Secured brokering the trade.

Look past the sticker price and the trade tells a clear story about replacement cost in Staten Island. At $351 a square foot across 89,000 square feet, the closing price marks a 13.5 percent step-up over the $27.5 million basis recorded in June 2015. In today's five-borough construction market, buying modern or well-maintained brick at $351 a square foot still beats the time and cost of digging a foundation from scratch. Even better for the buyers, the in-place rent roll hands them a verified 6.70 percent going-in cap rate from day one.

Why Suburban-Style Strip Retail Commands 10-Year Life-Co Debt

The real tell in any Staten Island closing sits on the debt side of the ledger. To fund the purchase, Urban Edge Properties (Jeff Olson) locked in a $19.5 million 10-year fixed life-company retail loan from Prudential / PGIM Real Estate at 62.5 percent loan-to-value.

That loan commitment meant the buyers only needed to write a $11.7 million equity check to control a 1-story, 2004-vintage New Springville / Heartland Village asset. Credit committees aren't stretching to 75 percent leverage anymore, but when a sponsor brings $11.7 million of real cash equity and a basis of $351 a square foot, lenders like Prudential / PGIM Real Estate are wide open for business.

From Our Desk

When we look at 2455 Richmond Avenue on our placement desk at Light Tower Group, the lesson for New York sponsors comes down to the marriage of entry basis and lender selection. Urban Edge Properties (Jeff Olson) didn't try to fight the tape—they bought New Springville / Heartland Village footage at $351 a square foot and paired it with the exact lender bucket built for this business plan. Open-air grocery-anchored retail in a borough of 500,000 residents with almost no competing land is a cash machine—and a 62.5 percent fixed-rate PGIM mortgage proves it.