Greystar Real Estate Partners buys $240m portfolio

Real Estate Weekly, July 24, 2002

Greystar Real Estate Partners, LLC, announced the purchase of a portfolio of Manhattan apartments from Thurcon Properties, Inc., a New York real estate company.

The total purchase price for the portfolio, which is comprised of nine buildings in various Manhattan locations, is approximately $240 million. The buildings also include 60,000 SF of commercial space. Greystar purchased the buildings on behalf of its institutional investment fund, Columbia Multifamily Holdings, LLC.

The portfolio includes two buildings on the Upper East Side, one in the Flatiron District, three in Gramercy Park, two in NoHo, as well as one property in Greenwich Village. The addresses are 1430 and 1438 Third Ave., 254 Park Avenue South, 210, 220 and 321 E. 22nd St., 298 and 304 Mulberry St. and 184 Thompson St.

"The acquisition of these properties represents Greystar's entrance into the highly-competitive Manhattan real estate market and immediately makes us one of the larger institutional owners of apartments in New York," said Robert Faith, managing partner of Greystar Real Estate Partners.

"We moved our investment advisory group to New York and opened our office here a little under a year ago. We intend to continue to grow our presence in the Metro New York area through additional acquisitions and third party property management assignments."

"This is one of the largest purchases of existing Manhattan multifamily housing in recent history," said Ben Friedman, president of Greystar Real Estate Advisors, the investment management arm of Greystar. "These properties are all extremely well located and we plan to upgrade the facilities and improve customer service which will enable these properties to excel in the New York market."

The properties will be managed by Greystar's property management affiliate in New York, Greystar Manhattan Management, LLC. The company will manage 22 buildings in Manhattan. Greystar Manhattan Management, LLC, is a joint venture between Greystar and Prime Manhattan Holdings, LLC. Prime currently owns and manages approximately 7,000 units in New York City. Prime also purchased two buildings from Thurcon in a simultaneous transaction valued at approximately $40 million.

Prime managing principal, Rick Aidekman, said, "We are a great team. Prime's 20 years of experience operating in New York City, coupled with Greystar's national institutional management expertise and our combined focus on resident satisfaction, will make Greystar Manhattan a very desirable company for both renters and owners of buildings."