Heritage Real Estate buys former Vantage portfolio for $45M

Purchase price represents increasing value of multi-family properties

From left: Jordan Slone, 3499 Broadway (Credit: PropertyShark), Robert Shapiro and Robert Knakal
From left: Jordan Slone, 3499 Broadway (Credit: PropertyShark), Robert Shapiro and Robert Knakal

Apartment landlord Heritage Real Estate Partners paid Harbor Group International and Jadam Equities $45 million for a four-building Hamilton Heights portfolio once owned by Vantage Properties and Area Property Partners.

The purchase of the 214-unit properties, located at 3489-3499 Broadway, 610 West 163 Street, 548 West 164 Street and 519 West 143 Street, closed on Nov. 7, several people involved in the sale told The Real Deal. The transaction has not yet appeared in public records.

The purchase price reflects the increase in values for multi-family properties in Manhattan — even those that are heavily rent-regulated like these. Vantage and Area paid $31 million for the package in March 2007. The owners took out a $31 million first mortgage at the time.

Later that year, Norfolk, Va.-based Harbor Group, led by Jordan Slone, and Great Neck, N.Y.-based Jadam, headed by Adam Katz, purchased a $3.2 million mezzanine loan, secured by Vantage and Area’s equity interest in the entity that owned the package, according to city records and people familiar with the ownership structure.

After making some investments in the property, Vantage and Area struggled to pay the mezzanine loan during the real estate market fall, and defaulted on the loan. In 2011, Harbor and Jadam, through a foreclosure of the equity interest, took title to the package as 50-50 owners.

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Slone declined to comment on the specifics of the deal, but said it was “a good investment for us.” Massey Knakal Realty Services Chairman Robert Knakal and First Vice President of Sales Robert Shapiro represented the sellers. The buyer was not represented by a broker.

Katz declined to comment, as did Jeremy Markowitz, CEO of Heritage.

Heritage has been active recently. It sold a package of buildings in September to the Orbach Group then bought back three of those buildings for $31 million.

Harbor Group sold 4 New York Plaza in Lower Manhattan in 2012 for a large profit, but it has pulled 1412 Broadway off the market, a source said. Harbor Group in March was reportedly shopping the building, which it purchased for $150 million in 2010, for $250 million.

Harbor Group has been buying as well, although at a smaller level. It shelled out $20.5 million in July for a 46-unit rental building on the Upper East Side.