Black Spruce, Orbach pay $390M for Solow rental

Josh Gotlib’s Black Spruce Management and Meyer Orbach paid nearly $390 million to buy a Murray Hill apartment building from the late billionaire Sheldon Slow’s firm.

The partners purchased the 408-unit building at 685 First Avenue for $387.5 million, property records filed with the city Thursday show.

JPMorgan provided $290.6 million in financing for the acquisition. Representatives for Black Spruce and the Solow Realty & Development Company did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The purchase is the first part of a previously reported deal in which Gotlib is buying six Manhattan apartment buildings with 1,766 units from Solow for $1.75 billion. The portfolio includes the 414-unit One East River Place tower in Lenox Hill at 525 East 72nd Street. The remaining sales are expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Sheldon Solow (Getty)

Meyer Orbach’s Orbach Affordable Housing Solutions, which teamed up with Gotlib on its $837 million purchase of the American Copper Buildings earlier this year, is partnering again with Black Spruce on the Solow purchase. Their joint venture is called GO Partners.

A JLL team led by Rob Hinckley and Jeff Julien represented the seller and procured the buyer.

Solow died in 2020 at the age of 92. His son, Stefan Soloviev, is now running the family firm.

Black Spruce is quickly becoming one of the biggest rental landlords in the city. The company owns more than 4,000 units. Orbach owns roughly 6,000 units across the country.