Arena Real Estate buys six West Bronx buildings for $46M

John LaRocca’s Arena Real Estate picked up six buildings in the West Bronx’s Fordham Heights neighborhood for $45.7 million – the latest in a string of multifamily portfolios in the borough.

The package contains 305 apartments across 271,000 square feet. There are three six-story elevator buildings, two five-story walk-ups and one five-story walk-up. The addresses are 2063-2065, 2075, 2084 and 2095 Creston Avenue, 108 Field Place and 2324 Morris Avenue.

LaRocca, who is also a broker in Brooklyn, is planning to hold the buildings long term and renovate them, sources said. His firm, Prospect Heights-based Area Real Estate, has multifamily holdings in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, records show.

Borough Park investor Bernard Miller has owned the properties since the late 1990s, according to property records. The buildings date back to the 1920s and 1930s.

The deal closed last week for about $170 per square foot, or 10.5 times the current rent roll. The buildings have a cap rate of 6 percent.
Average rents at the buildings range from $1,120 to $1,383 per month, marketing materials show.

Rosewood Realty Group’s David Berger represented Miller, while Rosewood’s Aaron Jungreis represented Arena Real Estate.

“These buildings are all located in a little pocket of the Bronx, no more than a few blocks from one another,” Jungreis said.

The Bronx has seen some large portfolio deals in recent months. Harbor Group International and York Equities bought 38 buildings for $140 million and Related Companies bought 20 buildings for $112.5 million.