● Besen & Associates
Benchmark sells luxury Brooklyn apartments
Amit Doshi, Shallini Mehra and Ron Cohen of Besen & Associates announced the sale of 50 Orange Street in Brooklyn Heights.
The 14,850 s/f gut renovated, limestone façade elevator building consists of 20 luxury free market apartments.
The property was at one time owned by the Watchtower Bible Society. The present ownership invested an additional $2 million in condo quality finishes in the apartments as well as modern amenities, including a smart phone video intercom, roof deck, fitness room, a putting green, dart room and bike room.
The $18 million sale price equates to 22.3 GRM, $900,000 per unit, $1,212 per square foot and a 3.8 percent capitalization rate.
The all cash, no contingency, winning bid was by an overseas investment company.
“This is an exceptional asset for an investor with patient money,” stated Mehra. “Brooklyn Heights is the new West Village”.
According to Doshi, “To date, the majority of the 2,000 multifamily buildings we’ve sold have been rent stabilized.
“This trade is indicative of a shift in investor sentiment towards free market assets. This is our second sale this year for Benchmark Real Estate Group, having previously sold 65 Bank Street in the West Village.”
● Cushman & Wakefield
Anbau bolsters East Village rental portfolio
Anbau announced the acquisition of 53-55 First Avenue in the East Village for $16.2 million.
Located on the west side of First Avenue, between East 3rd and East 4th Streets, the site consists of two five-story buildings, which measure 18,240 gross square feet.
53-55 First Avenue joins Anbau’s growing rental portfolio in the East Village. In spring 2016, Anbau purchased 50-58 East 3rd Street, a 52,000 s/f site located around the corner and consisting of three adjacent buildings with 71 apartments.
“As a firm, our goal is to invest in great buildings and stellar neighborhoods where our expertise in developing best-in-class residences can add value,” said Barbara Van Beuren, Managing Director of Acquisitions, Design, and Marketing at Anbau.
“We believe in the strength of the East Village, and with its proximity to Tompkins Square Park, Washington Square Park, robust retail, and some of the city’s hottest restaurants, we are excited to preserve the beauty and history of 53-55 First Avenue.”
Built in 1900, 53-55 First Avenue consists of two five-story buildings with 22 residential apartments and one commercial unit.
Anbau purchased the buildings from the hardware store H. Brickman & Sons, who has owned and occupied 53-55 First Avenue since its opening in 1930.
H. Brickman & Sons will continue to operate the store at 53-55 First Avenue. Robert Knakal and James Nelson’s team at Cushman & Wakefield brokered the transaction.
● Cushman & Wakefield
P3 buys Parsippany office complex
New jersey based investment and management firm P3 Properties has purchased the MCCIII office complex in Parsippany.
P3 Properties acquired the 541,466 s/f Class A asset from institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
Cushman & Wakefield brokered the sale and arranged arranged $58.8 million in purchase financing for the PS, including $15 million of future funding earmarked for property upgrades.
The MCCIII complex includes four interconnected, Class A buildings on a 27-acre campus at 400 Interpace Parkway.
The park is 62 percent leased to four occupants with an average remaining lease term of more than six years, including global credit tenants TEVA Pharmaceuticals and Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide.
“With this purchase, P3 Properties added to its portfolio a best-in-market, headquarters-quality office park with in-place, financeable cash flow and substantial upside,” noted Gary Gabriel of Cushman & Wakefield’s Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group.
Gabriel headed the assignment with Andrew Merin, David Bernhaut, Kevin Donner, Brian Whitmer and Andrew MacDonald.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Equity Debt and Structured Finance Group, led by John Alascio and Sridhar Vankayala, arranged $58.8 million in purchase financing, including approximately $15 million of future funding earmarked for property upgrades.
The MCCIII purchase is the fifth transaction Cushman & Wakefield has completed on behalf of P3 Properties.
“We seek real estate opportunities where we can add value, and MCCIII presents an exciting repositioning play,” said Harvey Rosenblatt, P3 Properties CEO and founder.
“We immediately will focus on leveraging the attractive acquisition cost basis to launch a significant capital plan and robust leasing program.”
● Greysteel
Park Slope portfolio fetches $35M
Greysteel, a national commercial real estate investment services firm, has arranged the sale of 181-182 Prospect Park West and 409 14th Street, located in Park Slope.
Representing both the buyer, an institutional investor and the seller, a private investor, the transaction was negotiated by Greysteel senior investment associate, Michael Stimler from the firm’s New York office.
The 78-unit, three-property portfolio sold for $35,450,000.
181-182 Prospect Park West, built in 1921, consists of 34 units across two buildings and 409 14th Street, built in 1920, consists of 44 units.
● Prime Manhattan Residential
Flatiron aparment building sold
Prime Manhattan Residential has closed on the $15.5 million sale of 17 West 20th Street, a commercial building with residential conversion opportunity located in the Flatiron District.
Located on 20th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, the 16,724 /sf building was built in 1910.
It is currently configured as a six-story elevator building with 10 residentia units and a a maximum buildable square footage of 28,000 s/f.
The ground floor retail space is 3,400 s/f and was originally home to new American restaurant, Spoon & Tbsp.
Robert Dankner at Prime Manhattan Residential brokered the sale.
● Meridian Investment Sales
$10M Hunts Point warehouse sale
Meridian Investment Sales sold a warehouse located at 1171 Oak Point Avenue in the Special Hunts Point District of the Bronx for $10 million, the highest price ever paid for a property in the Hunts Point market.
Meridian Senior Executive Managing Director, David Schechtman, Managing Director, Lipa Liberman, and Managing Director, Abie Kassin, represented the seller, Miron Produce.
Associate Broker Ariel Castellanos of Pinnacle procured the buyer in this transaction.
The 30,000 s/f property, which rests on a lot of the same size, can be expanded to 60,000 s/f as-of-right and is located on the northwest corner of Oak Point Avenue and Worthern Street in Hunts Point.
One of the largest and most integral food distribution centers in the region, Hunts Point spans over 329 acres of dedicated space for wholesalers, distributors, and food processing businesses.
Previously, 1171 Oak Point Avenue served as one of the distribution centers and warehouses for fruit and vegetable wholesaler Miron Produce. The sale allowed the company to consolidate operations in its state-of-the-art warehouse facilities elsewhere.
● Lichtenstein RE
Record Bronx sale offers buyer upside
Andrew Lichtenstein, president of Lichtenstein RE, has sold a portfolio of three contiguous properties located at 2018-2020-2022 Monterey Avenue in Tremont, Bronx, for $10,700,000.
The sale represented a record breaking Gross Rent Multiplier which equated to an immediate 4.5 percent Cap Rate and $152,857 per unit.
The seller sold to this buyer because he is a repeat proven buyer even though Lichtenstein submitted a higher-priced offer.
The contiguous properties are 55,272 residential square feet, five to six-story brick walk-up apartment buildings. They contain a total of 71 residential apartments consisting of one studio, 51 one bedroom and 18 two bedroom apartments.
“The sale price was possible because the buildings have great upside to increase rents,” said Lichtenstein. “The residential units were rented for an average of only $844 a month, while the average rent for this East Tremont neighborhood is $1,580.”
The properties, built in 1928, are located between East 178 and 179 Streets, two blocks from East Tremont Avenue.
● BRT Apartments Corp.
BRT partners on $30M Sunbelt deal
BRT Apartments Corp. recently acquired two multi-family properties for a total purchase price of $30.4 million.
BRT, through a joint venture in which it has an 80 percent equity interest, purchased a 204 unit, multi-family property located in Madison, Alabama, for $18.4 million, including a $15 million, 4.08 percent, 10-year, fixed rate mortgage.
The property, Magnolia Pointe at Madison, was built in 1991, and features large units with up to four bedrooms.
Magnolia Pointe is the second property owned by BRT in this area with this same joint venture partner. In 2013, BRT and its partner purchased Brixworth at Bridge Street, a 208-unit property located three miles from Magnolia.
BRT, through a joint venture in which it has an 80 percent equity interest, also acquired The Woodland Apartments, a 120 unit multi-family property located in Boerne, Texas, a suburb of San Antonio, and the adjacent 3.6-acre land parcel which allows the opportunity of adding an additional 68 units.
The purchase price was $12 million, including a $9.2 million, 10-year floating rate loan with an interest rate of one month LIBOR plus 239 bps.
As a result of this purchase, BRT and this joint venture partner together own 504 units in Texas.
“We are pleased to begin 2018 with two excellent Sun-belt market acquisitions, both, purchased with joint venture partners with whom we own other multi-family properties in markets in which we already have a presence,” commented Jeffrey A. Gould, CEO and President.
“These two acquisitions are representative of our pipeline of opportunities and we look forward to continuing to add to our portfolio in the year ahead.”
● Torchlight Investors
Manhattan investors get southern exposure
Manhattan-based Torchlight Investors has partnered with Wilkinson Corporation in the $61 million acquisition of a garden-style apartment complex located in Marietta, Georgia, approximately 15 miles northwest of the Atlanta CBD.
The 654-unit complex consists of 26, two- and three-story residential buildings situated on 42 acres.
The property’s unit mix includes four different layouts ranging in size from 750 square feet to 1,180 square feet.
The property is located along I-75, I-285 and I-20 with connectivity to Atlanta’s public transit system, the MARTA.
Additionally, the recently developed “Battery Atlanta”, located just two miles from the community, features a 1.5 million square foot mixed-use lifestyle center and is home to the Atlanta Braves new 41,000 seat stadium, SunTrust Park. Upon completion, the $1.2 billion project will include 400,000 s/f of shopping, dining and nightlife, a 4,000 seat concert venue, a 300,000 s/f Class-A office tower anchored by Comcast, a 260-key Omni Hotel, and more than 600 residential units.
Torchlight and Wilkinson’s plan for the complex includes a value-add strategy with upgrades to common areas as well as interior renovations. “We are excited to start a new relationship with Wilkinson, an experienced owner/operator in the multifamily space, and we look forward to pursuing additional opportunities with them in the future,” said Mike Butz, Partner at Torchlight.
Paul Vetter and Andrew Mays of Berkadia Real Estate Advisors listed The Park on Windy Hill for sale.
