Meridian Capital Group negotiated a $592 million loan for the purchase of 24 multifamily properties located throughout New York, NY on behalf of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII and Fairstead Capital.
The five-year loan, provided by a balance sheet lender, features a LIBOR-based floating-rate and interest-only payments for the full term. The transaction was negotiated by senior managing director Drew Anderman, who is based in the company’s New York City headquarters.
The portfolio totals 979 units with properties located throughout the Upper East Side, Chelsea, Midtown West, Midtown South and Murray Hill neighborhoods of Manhattan.
“I want to thank Drew Anderman and his team at Meridian Capital for their hard work and creativity in securing the financing for this acquisition, which we believe is one of the larger purchases of multifamily assets in New York City this year,” said Will Blodgett, principal of Fairstead Capital.
Blackstone Real Estate Property VIII and Fairstead Capital paid $690 million for the portfolio of 24 apartment buildings . The transaction stands as the largest individual residential asset sale in the past decade.
Law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, which represented portfolio manager B&L Management, also pointed out that the deal was one of the largest sales of an elevator building portfolio in the history of Manhattan. The seller was the Caiola family.
The deal represents Blackstone’s entry into the rental housing business. The Blackstone Group, the world’s largest investor in real estate, established its new fund, Blackstone Real Estate Property VIII, earlier this year, after announcing plans to raise $1.3 billion from retail investors. Its partner, Fairstead Capital, is a real estate investor and asset manager that has $2.3 billion worth of property in New York City.
Fairstead said that they plan to upgrade the common spaces, add new amenities and renovate units for the buildings in the portfolio.
