Going once, Going twice! Rent-stabilized portfolio hits auction block

A portfolio that includes a sizable chunk of rent-stabilized apartments is hitting the auction block.

Bids for the 10-property portfolio, which includes one parcel upstate, could serve as a temperature check for investor interest in rent-stabilized product after the state’s sweeping rent law was passed in June.

The six multifamily and mixed-use buildings up for sale include 855 East 217th Street in the Bronx; 553 58th Street, 171 Bay 17th Street and 1314 Sterling Place in Brooklyn; and 235 East 96th Street and 117 West 111th Street in Manhattan. Altogether the properties have 103 rental units, most of which are stabilized, according to Paramount Realty USA, which is handling the auction.

“It’s no secret that prices for rent stabilized investment properties have been affected by the recent legislation,” Paramount owner Misha Haghani said in a statement. “The question is, to what extent? That’s what we aim to answer through this formal bidding process.”

The multifamily market saw dollar volume, deal volume and building volume fall by double digits on a quarterly and year-over-year basis after the passage of Albany’s new rent law, according to a recent report from Ariel Property Advisors.

The remaining portfolio includes one vacant commercial building in Brooklyn at 5203-5207 Church Avenue, one vacant retail building in Queens at 31-35 Steinway Street, one community facility in Queens at 119-40 Metropolitan Avenue and one 63-acre development site on Milk Road in Woodridge.

Public records indicate that most of the New York City properties were owned by the Daniel Group, a Queens-based landlord. The Church Avenue site was owned by an entity tied to Raymond Eshaghoff, and the Metropolitan Avenue appears to have been tied to Arthur Steinberg.

Paramount’s estimated values of the properties range from about $1 million for a three-story brownstone in Crown Heights on Sterling Place to about $6.5 million for the empty retail building in Queens, which used to house a Victoria’s Secret. Up to 52 homes could be built on the development site upstate, according to Paramount. The vacant commercial building in Brooklyn was previously asking for as much as $5.8 million but now has a suggested value of just $2.9 million.

Written bids for the properties are due Dec. 10.

Paramount previously helped auction off the childhood home of Donald Trump in Queens at 85-15 Wareham Place, which sold in 2017 for $2.14 million, reportedly to a female Chinese buyer.