From left: 1428 Fifth Avenue and a rendering of a proposed development on the vacant site.

Affordable housing builder L & M Development Partners and a city housing fund closed on Harlem’s highest priced asset purchase so far this year, according to Massey Knakal Realty Services, paying $21.925 million for an apartment building and an adjacent vacant parcel. The next two biggest deals this year traded for $12.5 million each — 169-75 East 101st Street and 604 West 131st Street, records from Massey Knakal, which represented the seller, Manhattan-based developer Metrovest Equities, show. L & M Development and the city’s Partnership Housing Development Fund closed on the 120-unit, six-story elevator building at 1428 Fifth Avenue as well as the neighboring development site, both between 116th and 117th streets, on September 26, city property records published Monday say. Despite being a top price for the year in the market, it was less than half the $58 million Metrovest wanted for the site in 2008. [more]