Prime Rok Real Estate
Prime Rok double dips on uptown assets
Afshin Hedvat’s Prime Rok Real Estate closed on two deals in the same day last week.
The investment and development firm paid $15.8 million for 1442 Lexington, at the corner of 94th Street on the Upper East Side.
Samy Mahfar’s SMA Equities sold a seven-story rental building which contains 16 apartments and one ground floor retail space.
Hedvat told Real Estate Weekly the 15,596 s/f elevator building is prime for repositioning with the bulk of the large-configuration units priced at under-market rents.
“We plan on repositioning the building to appeal to the market for high end Upper East Side rentals,” said Hedvat.
The deal was sourced by Prime Rok associate Jack Harary and negotiated by Afshin Hedva and acquisitions manager Shah Eatemad.
Prime Rok also bought a five-story parking garage at 457 West 150th Street for $2.6 million.
With one floor below grade and space for 115 vehicles, Prime Rok purchase the cash-flowing asset as a long-term hold.
–
Savills Studley
Kenyan Mission buys UN office condo
The Permanent Mission of the Republic of Kenya has purchased a 20,285 s/f commercial condominium at 866 United Nations Plaza.
Savills Studley represented the Kenyans in the $18.2 million Midtown East deal. Michael Rudder represented the seller, Meadow Partners.
Located directly north of the United Nations on 48th Street, the condo unit encompasses the entire third floor of the 471,000 s/f class A building.
According to Savills Studley’s senior managing director Patrick Gardner — who represented the buyer with managing director Nancy Weinstein — the Mission previously leased 7,000 s/f on the 3rd floor and the Kenyan Consulate occupied 3,000 s/f on the 4th floor prior to the sale. Following the redesign and reconstruction of the space, the Consulate and the Mission will share the third floor, doubling its space at the property overall.
“With owning your own space, you have an asset that increases in value and offers tremendous cost savings from paying rent,” Gardner said.
“This was a complex transaction that took nearly two years because we worked to comply with the strict laws and regulations of Kenya. Following our successful negotiations, this transaction offers a government entity, like the Mission, to lock in their occupancy costs while maintaining a presence in close proximity to the U.N.”
–
Gebroe-Hammer Associates
Novel $130M multi-family deal in Roseland
Gebroe-Hammer Associates has arranged the $130 million sale of Nob Hill Apartments, a 360-unit garden-style community at 28 Nob Hill Rd., in Roseland, N.J. Executive vice president Greg Pine along with president Ken Uranowitz represented the seller, the original developer/owner since 1978, and senior vice president Nicholas Nicolaou procured the buyer, the investment firm Novel Property Ventures.
The buyer arranged financing for the transaction in collaboration with JLL.
This sale comes on the heels of the $100 million trade Gebroe-Hammer orchestrated for the 642-unit Cedar Wright Gardens complex in Lodi, NJ. “The hunt for multi-family product throughout North Jersey is enduring,ˮ said Pine.
Nob Hill is one of the most prestigious properties in western Essex County. It has a mix of one- and two-bedroom layouts as well as three-story duplexes with ground-floor garages and storage rooms.
Community amenities include a swimming pool, tennis courts, off-street parking and sundecks.
“The buyer plans to expand upon the seller’s in-place renovations by implementing a capital improvement program that elevates the amenities to the next level in order to appeal to the area’s urban-sophisticate tenant base,” said Nicolaou.
“This particular demographic seeks a balance between luxury suburban – in terms of quaint residential neighborhoods – and urban, which offers proximity to outdoor recreation, cultural venues, shopping and dining. For this reason, the buyer pursued this exceptionally rare investment opportunity.”
–
Gebroe-Hammer Associates
A year of original owners
Gebroe-Hammer Associates brokered the $100 million sale of Cedar Wright Gardens, a 642-unit apartment complex in Bergen County, NJ.
Located at 77 Mary St. in Lodi, the 31-acre community has a mix of one-bedroom and two-bedroom units.
The brokerage team of Ken Uranowitz, president; Joseph Brecher, managing director; and Greg Pine, executive vice president, exclusively represented the seller, Cedar Wright Gardens LP, which has owned the property since 1952, and identified the buyer, Cedar Wright Apartments LLC.
“2016 proved to be a year in which original owner/builders and decades-long owners, who never considered selling, took advantage of extremely heated market demand for multi-family product. These industry ‘veterans’ know, from past experience, this is a cyclical business and the curtain may be coming down soon on sub-4 percent interest rates,” said Uranowitz.
“Bidding on existing for-sale properties is becoming even more competitive and aggressive as investors continue to seek Class B capital improvement opportunities that offer long-term rent appreciation and a greater return on investment.”
–
CBRE
Pace makes $17M sale
Pace University has sold its Briarcliff Manor location in Westchester, NY.
The nine-building property was sold vacant to the Research Center on Natural Conservation, a not-for-profit enterprise which organizes educational forums with an emphasis on conservation and global warming.
The CBRE team of William V. Cuddy, Jr. and Jacqueline Novotny, along with Patrick Colwell, arranged the $17.4 million sale.
The team also arranged for the relocation of select Pace administrative offices, which previously occupied a portion of the Briarcliff Manor Campus, into 34,000 square feet at SL Green’s Summit Office Park at 100 Summit Lake Drive in Valhalla, NY.
Pace has consolidated its Westchester campus by building new residence halls, athletic facilities and expanding the student center which enabled the sale of the Briarcliff Manor property.
