Here are NYC’s largest portfolio deals of 2023

If you only looked at the top portfolio sale of the year, you’d be forgiven for questioning if it really happened in 2023. But look further and the rest of the year’s big deals are more in line with what you’d expect.

Nuveen’s purchase of a majority stake in Omni Holding Company’s affordable housing portfolio tops the list at nearly $1 billion, but there’s a big drop-off from there.

Josh Gotlib and Meyer Orbach closed on a $425 million deal for the final piece of a portfolio they bought from Stefan Soloviev. The rest of the big deals fail to climb above $150 million, as the market was cooled by rising interest rates and investors’ aversion to rent-stabilized properties.

Here, then, are the largest portfolio sales of 2023:

1) $956 million | Nuveen buys big stake in big Omni portfolio

In May, Nuveen, the real estate arm of investment giant TIAA, acquired a majority stake in a 12,000-unit portfolio of affordable rental buildings from Omni Holding Company, the investment firm co-founded by former Major League Baseball player Mo Vaughn.

The properties were spread out across several states, and the portion of the portfolio in New York included 5,900 units in 72 buildings in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Northern Manhattan. Sources said Nuveen picked up a 75 percent interest in the portfolio and assumed the debt.

The value of the New York portion of the deal was $956 million, according to Ariel Property Advisors.

2) $425 million | Gotlib, Orbach complete Solow deal

Gotlib and Orbach’s GO Partners picked up the 300-unit rental tower at 265 East 66th Street in Lenox Hill and a group of rental townhouses facing East 67th Street on the other side of the block. The sale closed in April as the second half of a 2022 deal with Solow Building Company, now known as the Soloviev Group.

Stefan Soloviev took over the firm after the death of his father, Sheldon Solow, and had to unload a chunk of its properties to pay a massive estate tax bill.

3) $150 million | Will Blodget buys Coney Island portfolio 

Will Blodget’s Tredway picked up a three-building complex in Coney Island and struck a deal to extend the properties’ affordability.

Tredway purchased the Park Apartments complex, containing 816 units, from the Arker Companies in May.

As part of the deal Blodget and his partners, Gilbane Development Company and ELH Mgmt, agreed to extend Sea Park’s affordability for 60 years and transition market units to affordable ones. 

They will also construct 250 new affordable senior apartments on a vacant lot in the portfolio.

“[Its] 816 units are going to be reserved as affordable for the next 60 years,” Blodgett said.

4) $142 million | Blackstone avoids foreclosure

Facing foreclosure on a portfolio of struggling Manhattan buildings, the private equity giant decided to cut bait.

Blackstone sold off a 51-percent majority stake in 11 Manhattan properties to Atlas Capital Group for $142.4 million. Atlas also purchased the $90 million mezzanine loan burdening the portfolio.

“The sale basically means Blackstone had decided to move on,” a broker said. “Atlas controls the ownership and it bought the loan so it can take the properties pretty quickly.”

Earlier in the year, Blackstone’s senior loan on the property had been transferred to special servicing as its debt service ratio slipped to dangerous levels.

5) $60 million | InterVest snags Bronx bargain

InterVest Capital Partners bought a portfolio of 14 buildings from Taconic Investment Partners, which took a big loss on the deal.

Taconic had paid about $100 million when it assembled the portfolio through two purchases in 2018. A year later, state lawmakers overhauled rent regulations making it more difficult for landlords to raise rents. At the time, Taconic owned about 2,000 rent-stabilized apartments.

“We’ll be cutting back significantly on improvements to individual apartments’ living experience,” Taconic’s Charlie Bendit said at the time. “They may be more affordable, but not as nice to live in.”

6) $47 million |  Barberry Rose Management takes a haircut

Barberry Rose Management sold 16 rent-stabilized buildings in September to Coney Realty for $47 million.

Barberry Rose, headed by Lewis Barbanel, had paid $83.6M for the properties in 2016.

The steep discount illustrated the impact of the 2019 rent laws, the pandemic and rising interest rates.

“That’s just a reflection of where the market is,” said Cignature Realty’s Lazer Sternhell, who brokered the deal.