Ariel Property Advisors has completed the sale of a sizable affordable housing portfolio in the Prospect Park South neighborhood of Brooklyn. The transaction encompasses eight pre-war, rent-stabilized multifamily buildings totaling 411,892 square feet and 387 units. The portfolio changed hands for $79.85 million, which equates to approximately $193 per square foot, underscoring ongoing investor appetite for large-scale affordable assets in established urban neighborhoods.
The Prospect Park South Portfolio is composed of properties located at 816, 682, 672 and 666 Ocean Ave., 280 E. 21st St., 95 and 91 E. 18th St., and 221 Linden Blvd. Together, these addresses form a scattered-site collection of multifamily buildings within a concentrated pocket of Prospect Park South. All of the assets are described as rent stabilized and pre-war, indicating an established housing stock that has long served the local community.
An Ariel Property Advisors team arranged the sale on behalf of the seller. The team included founding partner Victor Sozio, president and founder Shimon Shkury, partner Sean R. Kelly, Esq., directors Remi Mandell and Lawrence Sarn, associate director Nicole Daniggelis and investment sales associate Erik Moloney. Their mandate covered the marketing of the portfolio and the coordination of the sale process for the ownership group, which was not identified in the announcement.
According to Sozio, institutional and private investors continue to show strong interest in large affordable housing portfolios in prime Brooklyn locations. He noted that, despite the challenges of selling scattered, rent-stabilized pre-war buildings in the current market environment, the team focused on several key attributes of the offering. Among these were accretive assumable financing already in place across the portfolio and the benefits associated with a previously obtained 610 amendment, which were positioned as value drivers for prospective buyers.
The closing of this transaction adds a meaningful data point for the valuation and liquidity of rent-stabilized multifamily product in Prospect Park South. While the buyer and seller were not disclosed, the deal size, scale of the portfolio and emphasis on assumable financing highlight how capital is being deployed in affordable housing and how existing debt structures can be leveraged to facilitate sales activity in a more complex financing climate.
