Akelius pays Marolda $24M for LES rental complex

Subsidiary of Swedish firm plans 10-year hold on three buildings

144-150 Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side and Kunal Chothani
144-150 Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side and Kunal Chothani

Akelius Real Estate Management, a subsidiary of Swedish investment firm Akelius Residential Property, picked up a three-building Lower East Side rental complex from Lawrence Marolda’s Marolda Properties for $24 million.

The deal marked Akelius’ first Manhattan purchase and a continuation of its expansion into the U.S. The adjacent five- and six-story properties at 144-150 Ludlow Street, between Stanton and Rivington streets, span nearly 35,000 square feet. The majority of the 52 apartments are rent-regulated, one-bedroom units.

Rosewood Realty Group’s Billy Billitzer represented the buyer, while David Scheer, also at Rosewood, represented the seller. The property sold for $685 per square foot.

Akelius aims to hold its rental buildings, including this one, for roughly 10 years.

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“We’re going to do everything we can to be good property managers,” Kunal Chothani, an executive at Akelius, said.

Marolda bought the complex in 2013 for $11.9 million and last year, sought to sell it for $32 million. The Chinatown-based landlord is in the spotlight for an investigation by the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal into allegations that it forced tenants out of rent-controlled apartments.

Akelius’ first New York City deal closed last month, when it bought two Crown Heights rental buildings from BCB Property Management, as TRD reported.