Three Manhattan apartment buildings sell for $60M in affordable preservation deal

Camber Property Group and Belveron Partners just picked up three northern Manhattan apartment buildings for $60 million.

The companies purchased 287 Audubon Avenue in Washington Heights, 107 West 109th Street in Morningside Heights and 1871 Seventh Avenue in West Harlem, the companies announced on Thursday. As part of the deal, the landlords agreed to extend the affordability of the properties’ combined 143 units for 40 years through an agreement with the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The agreement also extends the building’s Section 8 contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The affordability restrictions on the buildings were previously slated to expire in five years.

Camber and Belveron paid $29.1 million for the Seventh Avenue property, known as the Deshler, and $21 million for the Morningside Heights building to the seller, the Orbach Group. Orbach, which recently sold off another Upper West Side portfolio, took over the Deshler in 2015 for $24 million and Morningside in the same year for $18 million, property records show. Meyer Orbach, company founder, told The Real Deal that proceeds of the latest sale will go toward the purchase of other affordable housing projects.

The partners purchased the Audobon Avenue property, known as Nueva Era, from Metropolitan Realty for $9.5 million. The details of the seller’s original acquisition were not immediately clear.

Greystone arranged $45 million in bridge financing for the buy while Camber and Belveron await funding from HUD.

Last year, Camber teamed up Belverson and LIHC Investment Group to buy buildings at 820 and 880 Thieriot Avenue from Starrett Corporation for $19 million.