Multi-family sales in February (source: Ariel Property Advisors)

The number of New York City investment sales of multi-family buildings spiked in February, according to Ariel Property Advisors’ Multi-family Month in Review report, released today.

Multi-family housing saw a 137 percent increase in total dollar volume transacted in February, to $404.36 million, up from $170.85 million in January, and up 153 percent year-over-year, from $159.66 million in February 2011, the report shows. The median price for properties that traded hands in February was $4.6 million. [more]

1917-19 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, one of the four buildings in the Central Harlem portfolio

[Updated at 1:00 p.m. with a comment from Treetop] The sale of one of the largest property portfolios to trade below 125th Street in Upper Manhattan in recent memory has closed for $18.4 million, according to Ariel Property Advisors, which brokered the deal on behalf of both the buyer and seller. [more]

The volume of New York City multi-family building sales increased 33 percent in 2011 compared to 2010, with institutional investor interest bolstering the 43 percent year-over-year increase in dollar volume, according to data from Ariel Property Advisors released today.

In 2011, there were 436 multi-family transactions consisting of 589 buildings totaling $4.23 billion, compared with 2010, which had 392 multi-family transactions with 442 buildings totaling $2.949 billion. [more]

The number of Manhattan multi-family building sales doubled in November from its somewhat dim performance in October, according to data from Ariel Property Advisors released today.

Below 96th Street, there were a total of 16 transactions featuring 24 buildings with 460 units that sold for $130.8 million in November 2011, compared to eight transactions at nine buildings with 196 units that sold for $62 million in October 2011. [more]

A prime Midtown East development site at 249-53 East 50th Street has hit the market, with approximately 44,000 buildable square feet and 55 feet of frontage between Second and Third avenues, Ariel Property Advisors, the exclusive listing agent for the property announced today. The site came online this morning with no noted asking price, a spokesperson for the company told The Real Deal, a tactic which some industry experts say brokers are increasingly employing to gauge the market’s interest as the economy continues to fluctuate.

“When they put a price tag on [a site,] they may be undershooting,” said one commercial broker active within the industry, particularly in this economy. [more]

The Bronx led the city in multi-family sales in October 2011 with 25 buildings sold, totaling $96.6 million, or 37 percent of the city’s multi-family sales for the month, according to a report from Ariel Property Advisors.

Fifty multi-family buildings, totaling $256 million, traded in 28 transactions in the city in October overall, compared to 47 multi-family buildings totaling $402.9 million that traded in 41 transactions in September.

“The Bronx is poised to rebound out of the many restructurings that took place in the last 24 months,” said Shimon Shkury, president of Ariel. – Katherine Clarke [more]

The pace of New York City multi-family sales remained strong in September, according to a report from Ariel Property Advisors released today, with 41 transactions citywide, totaling $402 million.

There was a 31 percent increase in the number of buildings sold in September compared with August, but a 9 percent dip in dollar volume, the report notes. The number of buildings sold was almost double the number sold in September 2010, when 24 buildings worth a total of $204 million traded.

“The steady activity through September suggests the multi-family market is poised for a strong finish through the end of the year,” said Shimon Shkury, president of Ariel Property Advisors. – Katherine Clarke [more]

Ariel Property Advisors

The number of New York City multi-family transactions jumped significantly in the third quarter of 2011, with Manhattan below 96th Street accounting for 80 percent of the total, according to a report from Ariel Property Advisors released today.

Citywide, there were 115 multi-family transactions that traded for a total of $1.6 billion in the third quarter, up year-over-year from 69 transactions trading for $457.8 million, and up from 88 transactions valued at $1 billion in second-quarter 2011.

Third-quarter 2011 volume increased dramatically in Manhattan compared to the same period the previous year. Between July and September, Manhattan below 96th Street saw 44 transactions valued at more than $1.3 billion, up from 17 transactions in that area valued at approximately $222.97 million in gross consideration, for the same period last year.
– Miranda Neubauer [more]

Clockwise from top left: Ariel Property Advsiors’ Jonathan Berman, 5721 6th Avenue and Victor Sozio of Ariel

A Sunset Park building set to house a forthcoming bilingual private school for special needs children hit the market last week with an asking price of $4 million. The four-story, 15,000-square-foot building at 5721 Sixth Avenue on the corner of 58th Street is listed by Jonathan Berman and Victor Sozio of Ariel Property Advisors.

The school, whose name Berman wouldn’t disclose, will rent out the building from whoever purchases it for $290,000 per year, yielding a cap rate of 6.4 percent, based on the terms of the deal and the current asking price, Berman said. He added that the school is looking to sell its stake in the building to free up cash.

The current ownership purchased the building for $2.6 million last July, public records show, and invested more than $1 million in renovating the interior, Berman said. – Adam Fusfeld [more]

From left: Gifford Miller and Robert Frost, partner at Signature Urban
Properties

The Department of City Planning will be holding a public hearing on former City Council Speaker Gifford Miller’s Bronx real estate project later this month, the Wall Street Journal reported.

As previously reported, Miller and longtime friend Robert Frost, a partner at Signature Urban Properties, are planning to transform a derelict section of the Bronx near the Sheridan Expressway with 10 new “affordable” apartment buildings, they said.

The $400 million Bronx project is the pair’s first ground-up venture, the Journal said; the area is currently home to a strip of car repair shops and smaller residential buildings. Signature, founded in 2007, is currently working to have it rezoned to allow for the development. [more]