HUBB NYC picks up Williamsburg apartments in neighborhood’s biggest deal in 2 years

Company paid $116M for 169-unit building at 247 North 7th Street

HUBB president John McCarthy and 247 North 7th Street in Williamsburg (247N7)
HUBB president John McCarthy and 247 North 7th Street in Williamsburg (247N7)

Williamsburg has notched its most expensive deal for an apartment building in two years amid swelling demand for multifamily investments.

HUBB NYC bought the 169-unit building at 247 North 7th Street for a little over $116 million from Greystar Real Estate Partners. It’s the most expensive multifamily deal in Williamsburg since January of 2020, when TF Cornerstone paid nearly $138 million to buy the building at 250 North 10th Street just a few blocks away.

HUBB NYC managing director Jesse Terry said the neighborhood “has faced significant challenges with the near L-train shutdown into COVID, but now appears to be recovering quickly.”

In addition to amenities, one of the main selling points for the building was that it’s a short walk to the Bedford Avenue L train, according to JLL’s Rob Hinckley, who brokered the sale alongside a team co-led by Jeffrey Julien.

A representative for Greystar could not be immediately reached for comment.

HUBB’s purchase works out to about $688 per unit, roughly $100 more per door than the TF Cornerstone deal two years ago. At the time, the Elghanayan family’s TF Cornerstone got a steep discount on the purchase — roughly $30 million less than seller Nuveen paid five years earlier. Both properties receive the 421a tax benefit and the different values of each property’s exemption likely has a significant impact on their pricing.

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South Carolina-based Greystar buought the 150,000-square-foot building at 247 North 7th Street in 2016 for $125 million from Adam America Real Estate, which developed the building. The property’s seven stories include 50 studios, 91 one-bedrooms and 28 two-bedroom apartments.

The transaction marks the second building HUBB’s bought in the neighborhood in the past two years after the company paid $84 million March 2020 for the 136-unit 123 Hope Street.

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HUBB has picked up several other apartment buildings in recent months. The company last month closed on a portfolio of 11 Manhattan rental buildings it bought from an affiliate of AIMCO for $190 million. In September, it bought a 141-unit rental and retail building on Harlem’s 125th Street for $105 million.

A recent string of big-ticket deals across the city show investors’ sizable appetite for multifamily buildings.

Josh Gotlib’s Black Spruce Management went into contract earlier this month to buy the American Copper Buildings on Manhattan’s east side from Michael Stern’s JDS Development Group and Baupost Group for $850 million. Bloomberg reported on Dec. 20 Blackstone Group is nearing a deal to buy the luxury apartment rentals at 8 Spruce Street in Lower Manhattan from Brookfield Asset Management and Nuveen for $930 million.