Carmel Partners Seals Acquisition of UWS Multifamily Portfolio Minority Stake

Carmel Partners has officially closed on its acquisition of a 49 percent stake in a five-building multifamily portfolio on the Upper West Side, Commercial Observer has learned. 

The firm purchased the stake from MetLife. UDR, a Colorado-based, publicly traded real estate investment trust and the majority stakeholder, is remaining in the deal. 

The portfolio — which is comprised of 801 Amsterdam Avenue plus 775, 795, 805 and 808 Columbus Avenue and is known as the Columbus Square Collection — traded at a roughly $485 million valuation, sources said. 

Newmark’s Adam Spies, Adam Doneger, Marcella Fasulo, Doug Harmon and Michael Collins negotiated the sale, which includes in-place, fixed-rate financing that Carmel will step into, sources said. 

The in-place Fannie Mae debt, provided by Wells Fargo has an interest rate of yore of just 2.6 percent through 2031, according to an offering memorandum viewed by CO.

The Real Deal reported in January that a sale was in the works, but it closed only recently, sources said. 

Sitting between 97th and 100th streets, the 492,000-square foot, 707-unit portfolio was constructed in 2009 and is currently 50 percent market-rate and 50 percent rent-stabilized. The building at 808 Columbus Avenue benefits from the state’s 421a tax abatement through 2031, its exemption percentage currently sitting at 60 percent. 

UDR and MetLife purchased the portfolio for $630 million in 2012 from Stellar Management and Chetrit Group. 

MetLife and Newmark declined to comment. Carmel Partners didn’t return a request for comment. 

Cathy Cunningham can be reached at ccunningham@commercialobserver.com.