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]
[Updated 3 p.m., April 20] Apartments in TreeTop Development’s Keap Street Lofts are now available for rent, according to Curbed. Listings for the 13-unit building at 471 Keap Street, formerly a condominium, have been taken off the market and signage was posted on the building’s industrial-looking exterior indicating that the apartments can now be rented. When sales commenced for the condo in November 2009, six units, ranging in price from $349,000 to $539,000, went into contract immediately. Aptsandlofts.com, marketed the project until January 2010 and told The Real Deal that it had all the units in contract in that time frame, but construction was not completed on time for those in contract (note: correction appended). The developer couldn’t be immediately reached for comment by The Real Deal, and it wasn’t immediately clear who is currently marketing the project. [Curbed
Phoenix Realty Group said it acquired Beacon Hill Gardens, a Westchester County apartment complex for $28 million, under a joint venture with White Plains-based Property Resources.
Phoenix Realty, with offices in New York and Los Angeles, said the deal is the latest acquisition in a strategy to acquire multi-family properties in the New York area and in Southern California.
The 256-unit property, located at 200 Beacon Hill Drive in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., includes mostly one- and two-bedroom units spread over a 14-acre site. The deal represents one of the largest residential acquisitions in Westchester County since 2006, according to officials. [more]
While often, and perhaps unfairly, seen as a sign of desperation by condo developers unable to move units, the developers at one Jersey City condominium say that a property auction — to open sales, rather than close — has worked for them.
The Saffron condo building, a $25 million project at 217 Newark Avenue, developed by Fields Development Group and TreeTop Development, celebrated its “pre-opening” of sales this past Sunday with an auction.
The auction included nine units — five two-bedrooms and four one-bedrooms out of 76 homes. These sold out so swiftly that James Caulfield, a partner with Fields, said the developers allowed so-called “step-up buyers” (buyers willing to buy units not included in the auction for the highest bid of the last round of bidding) to purchase six other units after the bidding closed. The top bids for the one- and two- bedrooms were $322,000 and $440,000, respectively, around $25,000 and $59,000 lower than the average asking prices comparable units will have when they hit the market next month. Even though the units sold for less than market rate, Caulfield said the benefits for selling a chunk of units quickly outweigh the losses. [more]
TreeTop Development’s 16 new Greenpoint luxury condominiums at the Locale are going up for auction, a move that the company hopes will speed sales and reduce the costs involved with a conventional marketing process. Units range from 600 to 1,000 square feet, and bids will start at $150,000, a steep discount from the original asking prices of between $445,000 to $599,000. The building’s first showing is this Sunday. The Nov. 11 auction, which will take place at the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, will be the first of its kind for Brooklyn, but not for TreeTop, which is also working with real estate auction firm Sheldon Good & Company to auction off the first nine units at the Saffron in Jersey City on Nov. 8. [Crain’s] [more]
