Castellan seeking nearly $63M for five Harlem buildings

UPDATED, 3:01 p.m., Feb. 5: Castellan Real Estate Partners is asking $62.5 million for a five-building residential portfolio along 141st Street in Central Harlem, The Real Deal has learned.

Four of the mid-rise rental properties – 111-115, 117-125, 127-135 and 137-145 West 141st Street – are contiguous, while 148 West 141st Street is located across the street. The portfolio, consisting of five-and-six-story walk-up and elevator buildings, spans nearly 194,000 square feet and contains 233 apartments – many of which are rent-stabilized.

Seventy-one of the units are three-bedrooms, more than any other unit type.

An Ariel Property Advisors team led by Victor Sozio and Shimon Shkury is marketing the buildings.

Castellan, which could not be reached for comment, acquired the properties for more than $25 million in three separate deals over the past six years. The Columbus Circle-based real estate investment firm, led by Paul Salib, bought three of them for a total of more than $20 million in 2013. It had earlier purchased 111 West 141st Street for $4 million in 2010 and 148 West 141st Street for $1.6 million in 2009, records show.

Since assembling the portfolio, Castellan has made renovations and reduced the number of Department of Building violations, Sozio said.

In 2014, Castellan agreed to a settlement with the state over a probe into whether the firm demanded to see Spanish-speaking tenants’ passports, proof of citizenship and pay stubs as a condition of their tenancy — demands that are illegal under state law.