Vantage, Area continue Upper Manhattan selling spree

A partnership between Queens-based Vantage Properties and longtime collaborator Area Property Partners has sold an Upper Manhattan multi-family building for $16.25 million, the latest in a string of sales for the two companies which have been briskly selling off assets in the area, sources close to the deal told The Real Deal.

The 103-unit, seven-story property, at 1 Bogardus Place, sold to Doug Eisenberg of A&E Real Estate, a New York-based investment firm, a source said. Eisenberg could not be reached to confirm he was the buyer.

R. Stuart Gross, executive managing director and a principal at Eastern Consolidated, brokered the deal, alongside colleagues Max Bryce and Scott Ellard.

Gross declined to confirm the identities of the buyer or seller but noted that, for the seller, the deal was part of a longer effort to reposition its portfolio.

Indeed, both Vantage and Area have been on selling sprees in recent years, especially in Upper Manhattan, where they actively acquired together during the boom. They snapped up the Bogardus Place property for $14 million in 2007, public records show.

Last year, the duo sold Savoy Park, an 1,800-unit Harlem apartment complex, for $210 million, it was previously reported.

This year, Area has sold two key portfolios in the city, as well as other individual assets. The Decathlon portfolio, a collection of 10 Upper Manhattan buildings marketed by Eric Anton and Ron Solarz of Brookfield Financial, sold for $49 million in February, while a $68 million portfolio in Queens told to Long Island-based investment company BRG last week.

The Bogardus Place building is not the first former Area asset that A&E acquired. In February, the company purchased a Hamilton Heights building at 730 Riverside Drive for $18.2 million, or $2 million less than what Area paid for it six years previous.

Area was recently acquired by Los Angeles-based private investment firm Ares Management, it was announced earlier this month.

Spokespersons for the firm and for Vantage were not immediately available for comment on the deal.

The property, which is 95 percent occupied, features apartments ranging from 589-square-foot studios to 1,405-square-foot three-bedroom units and has an onsite parking facility which can accommodate 32 cars, according to a statement from Eastern.