Stone Street acquires five-property Manhattan portfolio for $90M

Stone Street Properties, a real estate investment firm recently formed by Gotham Organization alumnus Jeffrey Kaye and former Gumley Haft Kleier broker Robert Morgenstern, has acquired a small portfolio of five rental buildings in the East Village and the Upper East Side from Icon Realty Management, a representative from Icon confirmed. The deal, which has not yet hit public records, is valued at $90 million, Kaye said. Rockwood Capital is Stone Street’s equity partner in the deal, he said.

The buildings, located at 176 East 3rd Street, 420 East 66th Street, 404 East 88th Street, 336 East 81st Street and 344 East 85th Street, are all five- or six-story elevator buildings and have been renamed by Stone Street as the Jesse, the Chase, the Hudson, the Lily and the Emma respectively, according to the company website.

There were no brokers involved in the deal, Kaye said.

The purchase, Stone Street’s second, is part of the company’s long-term strategy of developing an extended collection of multi-family buildings. Last month, the firm closed on it first acquisition, paying $32.6 million for 85 residential units in three West Village rental apartment buildings: 7 Cornelia Street, 11 Cornelia Street and 102 Christopher Street. The goal is to launch a line of high-end buildings, branded as being part of the Stone Street portfolio.

“We’re taking these under-managed, under-serviced buildings and creating a luxury brand,” Kaye told The Real Deal at the time of the first purchase.

The company aims to have 10 employees by the end of the year and 1,000 apartments by next year, Kaye said.

Morgenstern, who is married to “Selling New York” broker personality Sabrina Kleier-Morgenstern, formed the company with Kaye in January, which The Real Deal reported in the September issue. 

Neither Icon nor Rockwood returned a call for further comment by print time.