Black Spruce to buy 14-building Chelsea portfolio for $80M

Josh Gotlib’s Black Spruce Management is breaking into the Chelsea multifamily market, and is in contract to buy a 14-building portfolio in the neighborhood for $80 million, sources told The Real Deal.

The seller, meanwhile, is exiting the game. The 135-unit package, which spans a total of 80,000 square feet, represents all the New York real estate owned by the Brock family’s Tempo Management.

The properties are scattered throughout Chelsea – from West 19th to 29th streets, between Eighth and 10th avenues. About 30 percent of the portfolio is rent-stabilized, according to sources familiar with the property, who added that the units will require extensive renovations.

Black Spruce, a NoMad-based investment firm that focuses primarily on rentals in the Bronx and Brooklyn, plans a long-term hold, sources said. The deal is expected to close for $1,000 per square foot in the next few weeks.

Addresses include 341 West 19th Street; 348 West 21st Street; 310, 431, 454 and 456 West 22nd Street; 326, 416-418 and 466 West 23rd Street; and 307, 309 and 313 West 29th Street, property records show.

The Brock family has owned the properties since the early 1970s, but real estate isn’t their bread and butter. Tempo Managers CEO Griffin Brock, who declined to comment, is an angel investor and runs a hedge fund, according to LinkedIn.

Rosewood Realty Group’s Aaron Jungreis and Devin Cohen, who are brokering the deal, declined to comment, as did Gotlib.

Last year, Black Spruce was the dominant buyer of Normandy Real Estate Partners and Westbrook Partners’ 42-building “Three Borough Pool” multifamily portfolio, spanning the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan.