A&E Real Estate Buys UES Apartment Building From Soloviev for $116M

A&E Real Estate has added a new luxury rental tower to its New York City residential portfolio. 

The firm acquired Rivers Bend, a 22-story, 179-unit, apartment building in Manhattan’s Upper East Side from Soloviev Group in a $116.5 million purchase that closed Monday. PincusCo. first reported the news. 

A source close to the deal told CO that A&E assumed a roughly $60 million Freddie Mac loan that was already in place and financed the rest of the deal with an undisclosed amount of equity. 

Soleviev and A&E had previously been locked in a tense lawsuit filed in December 2024, where Soleviev sought to maintain a minority position in any new ownership structure following a sale. Sheldon Solow, founder of the Soloviev Group, had designed and developed the asset in the early 1960s. 

Douglas Eisenberg, A&E Real Estate co-founder and CEO, told CO “there were issues that came up during the due diligence” that both sides disagreed with, but they were able to resolve the litigation by working with attorneys Jonathan Mechanic of Fried Frank and Chris Smith at DLA Piper. 

“We were able to come to an agreement that worked for us and worked for them and were all able to move forward,” said Eisenberg. “For us, it’s special to buy these types of assets from the original owners, from families who built them in New York City, and it speaks to how we view the city, the future of the city, and our commitment to it.”

Located at 501 East 87th Street on the corner of York Avenue and 87th Street on the Upper East Side, Rivers Bend opened in 1963. The building features a parking garage and a rooftop terrace with a glass-encased indoor swimming pool, and amenities include a fitness center, wood-burning fireplaces, and 24-hour doorman service in a sunken lobby. 

“We looked at this building and thought it was something special — the design of the building was ahead of its time,” said Eisenberg. “A lot of effort and thought went into the layouts of the apartments, the heights of ceilings, the materials used throughout the building, and we’ve always been quite impressed by it.

Eisenberg added that A&E plans to put “a substantial amount of capital” into the building. 

The purchase of Rivers Bend adds to a growing portfolio of New York City apartments for A&E, which went on a buying spree in 2022 when it purchased 160 Riverside Boulevard, a 455-unit residential complex, for $415 million; 1080 Amsterdam Avenue, a 96-unit residential building, for $42.6 million; and a six-building Brooklyn residential portfolio for $250 million. 

Other buildings under A&E’s control include Stonehenge 57 at 400 East 57th Street in Sutton Place, and Cunningham Heights, a 22-building community housing portfolio in Queens Village. All total, the firm has more than 20,000 New York City apartment units under management. 

“We look at what’s going on in the city, and the lack of supply, what we’re seeing a tremendous demand period, and even more so, for market-rate apartments,” said Eisenberg. 

Soloviev Group was represented by Jack Bick, founder and president of S. Charatan Realty, in the transaction. 

Brian Pascus can be reached at bpascus@commercialobserver.com