Hillcrest buys Washington Heights portfolio from Treetop

Six-building package sells for $36M after a year

From left: 432 West 163rd Street and 516 West 169th Street (inset: Adam Mermelstein and Steven Vegh)
From left: 432 West 163rd Street and 516 West 169th Street (inset: Adam Mermelstein and Steven Vegh)

A few months after bagging a large Upper Manhattan multifamily portfolio, Hillcrest Acquisitions bought six more properties, all of them in Washington Heights.

Hillcrest, a group of private investors based in Rockland County’s Spring Valley, acquired the package from Treetop Development for $36 million, or $360 per square foot, sources said. The portfolio spans 100,000 square feet and contains 139 rental units and seven retail units. The majority of the apartments are rent-stabilized units.

The properties are scattered throughout the neighborhood – at 432-434 West 163rd Street, 516 West 169th Street, 507 West 170th Street, and 27, 29 and 79 Audubon Avenue.

The buyers are planning to hold them for an unspecified period of time, sources said.

Treetop, in another quick turnaround, is parting ways with the package after little more than a year. The Teaneck, N.J.-based development firm led by Adam Mermelstein and Azi Mandel paid a total of $23 million to Onex Real Estate Partners in September and October 2014, records show.

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The buildings are dubbed the “Columbia Audubon” portfolio, in reference to their proximity to The Columbia University Hospital And Audubon Avenue. Treetop upgrades the facades, common areas and several apartments. Local chain Burger Heights was the most recent tenant to sign a lease, at 79 Audubon Avenue.

Over in Queens, Treetop is looking to sell 420-unit Rego Park rental building known as Saxon Hall for $150 million, about two years after buying it.

Westwood Realty Associates’ Steven Vegh, who brokered the deal, could not be reached for comment.

In September, Hillcrest, which is largely focused on investing in Brooklyn, paid $148.5 million to Galil Management for a 21-building portfolio in Harlem and Washington Heights. A portion of that portfolio was flipped to investor Isaac Herskovitz for a total of $55 million.