$47 Million Multifamily Building Listed, As Split Forms in Investment Sales Market

A private partnership is selling the building, which might garner attention thanks to its Midtown location and the low multifamily vacancy rate in Manhattan. That’s the prediction from first vice president investments Peter Von Der Ahe, who’s representing the seller along with Scott Edelstein, an associate vice president investments, and associate Seth Glasser.

“This property’s irreplaceable Midtown Manhattan location, combined with New York City’s extremely tight multifamily vacancy rate, will result in significant returns for the new ownership,” Mr. Von Der Ahe said in a prepared statement about the listing. Demand for apartments in New York City has reached near-frenzied levels not witnessed since 2005 and 2006. As a result, we expect multiple qualified bidders from across the country and overseas to express interest in this prime investment opportunity.”

Any new owner will assume the remaining 79 years on the 90-year triple-net leasehold interest in the building, which sits on a 130-foot by 100-foot lot and was constructed in 1964. Also included at the Indigo is 3,700 square feet of ground floor retail space and a 20,000-square-foot parking garage.

In a recent column for The Commercial Observer, Massey Knakal’s chairman Bob Knakal took on what he noted as three consecutive quarters of slumping investment sales in the New York City market. For the first quarter of 2012, this was evidenced by $6.9 billion in investment sales transactions—a slight drop from the $7 billion seen the quarter previous.

However, on the office side, Colliers (CIGI) International indicated in its Manhattan Office Flash Report for the first quarter of 2012 that there has been a slight uptick in activity. The firm tracked over $1.8 billion in transaction volume during the quarter—eleven office buildings sold and three recapitalizations. Most of the activity was among Class A office buildings spread throughout Manhattan.

This Marcus & Millichap multifamily listing is for $47 million—a unit price of $281,437. The firm said that more than 70 percent of the residential units at the Indigo are market rate and Mr. Von Der Ahe added that 46 units there are rent-stabilized, thus offering “substantial upside potential.”

CGaines@observer.com