David Werner, partner buy giant Deep South portfolio for $500M-plus

The past and present owners of one of Times Square’s prime office towers just did a half-a-billion-dollar deal far, far away.

Borough Park investor David Werner and the Cohen family’s Carlton Associates acquired an 11-building multifamily portfolio across four states in much of the Bible Belt from Allan Rose’s AVR Realty Company  for $510 million, sources told The Real Deal.

The package contains 3,600 free-market apartments and spans 3.6 million square feet across Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. The off-market deal closed Thursday, sources said.

AVR developed many of the communities, such as the Saulet Apartments in New Orleans and River Run in Spartanburg, South Carolina, in the late 2000s, according to its website.

Sources said the buyers might look to develop an additional 200 units at the properties.

Representatives for Werner, AVR and Carlton could not be reached for comment.

A group led by Werner bought the 38-story, 1.2 million-square-foot tower 5 Times Square in Midtown for $1.5 billion from AVR, which had purchased it for $1.2 billion in 2007. Then, last year, RXR Realty took a controlling interest in the tower from the Werner-led group, paying $800 million for a 50 percent stake in the leasehold.

Werner has also repeatedly partnered with Carlton Associates, such as on a $285 million purchase of the land beneath 100 West 57th Street with Rubin Schron in 2014.

Adam Pincus contributed reporting.