Mo Vaughn’s Omni NY Buys $14M Bronx Assemblage
By Liam La Guerre July 16, 2015 11:04 am
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The real estate firm founded by former Mets slugger Maurice “Mo” Vaughn is expanding its base footprint in the Bronx with the purchase of another portfolio in the northernmost borough.
Mr. Vaughn’s firm, Omni New York, which he co-founded in 2004 with Eugene Schneur, purchased five residential buildings in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx for $13.9 million, according to property records filed last Friday. The sale closed on June 25.
The assemblage of apartment buildings at 1012 Garrison Avenue and 860, 887-897, 890 and 898 Bryant Avenue includes 165 units in more than 183,000 square feet. All of the properties provide Section 8 housing.
Omni specializes in buying affordable housing properties and revitalizing them. The property owner plans a year-long renovation process to upgrade lobby areas and mechanical equipment, add new roofs, improve the common areas, install new doors and repair boilers, a spokeswoman for Omni said.
Also, individual apartments will be upgraded with new floors, windows, kitchen cabinets, appliances and fixtures. Omni also plans to install surveillance cameras throughout the properties.
Omni currently owns approximately 12,000 units throughout the country, about half of which are in New York City. However, its major playing field is in the Bronx, where it has 4,251 units.
The firm has purchased affordable housing buildings in all of the boroughs, but became heavily invested in the Bronx in 2012 with the acquisition of 16 Richman Plaza in Morris Heights for $137 million. The housing complex has 1,654 affordable apartments. Earlier that same year, the firm purchased nine multi-family Section 8 housing buildings with 371 units in the Longwood area of the Bronx for $33.3 million, as Commercial Observer previously reported.
