Iskander family asking $185M for Washington Heights portfolio

In a move to scale back its real estate business, the Iskander family and partners are looking to sell a nine-building Washington Heights multifamily portfolio for $185 million.

The Upper West Side-based family, which controls Intervest Development Corp., acquired the elevator properties over the course of three decades. The portfolio spans 488,000 square feet and contains 413 apartments and 48 retail spaces.

Ninety percent of the apartments are rent-stabilized. Most of the units are one- and two-bedrooms, with rents averaging $18 per square foot.

The Iskanders’ company holdings are largely concentrated in Upper Manhattan, including Inwood, Hamilton Heights and Washington Heights. The family is now looking to reduce its real estate assets, Eastern Consolidated’s Marcia Yawitz, who is representing them with colleague Ron Solarz, told The Real Deal.

Yawitz said Eastern is marketing the nine buildings as another long-term hold.

“The owner’s philosophy was to rent out the apartments and keep them rented, but not at top-dollar prices,” Yawitz said.

The properties are all located between West 164th and West 192nd streets. Seven of them are corner buildings on St. Nicholas Avenue, and all but one of them have ground-floor retail.

Earlier this month, Spring Valley-based Hillcrest Acquisitions paid $148.5 million for 21 rental buildings in Harlem and Washington Heights. Other major multifamily property owners in Upper Manhattan include Galil Management (formerly E&M Associates), the Dermot Co., A&E Real Estate and Urban American Management.