The sale of a 13-building, 147-unit apartment portfolio in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood last year showed how investors are still betting on the multifamily market at a time when elevated interest rates have curbed deal activity.
Black Spruce Management's $94.5 million sale to Pennsylvania real estate investment group Westover Cos. marked not only Chelsea's biggest multifamily deal in 2024 but also "reinforced the resilience of Manhattan's multifamily market" against "a challenging economic environment," said Marcus & Millichap, which exclusively represented Black Spruce.
The multifamily market asking rent has surged to a record high of more than $5,100 in Chelsea, about $2,000 more than the city average, CoStar data shows.
“Portfolios of this nature rarely trade in New York," Joe Koicim with Marcus & Millichap said in a December statement, adding that the portfolio is made up of "quality multifamily assets located in one of the top residential submarkets in the city" that "traded for just under $1,000 per square foot."
The transaction has been selected by real estate professionals familiar with the market as the winner of the 2025 CoStar Impact Awards sale of the year in New York.
About the deal: The portfolio is located on the west side of the Chelsea neighborhood between West 19th Street and West 29th Street, with buildings in the 98,000-square-foot portfolio all within a short distance of one another, according to Marcus & Millichap. It's also near tourist attractions including the High Line elevated park. To complete the deal, the buyer assumed an existing loan on the commercial mortgage-backed securities market.
What the judges said: James Famularo at Meridian Capital Group said the deal was "significant" not only because of its high closing price "at such a tough time in the commercial real estate industry."
Josh Wein at RAL Cos. added that the deal also overcame the challenge of a $75 million assumable CMBS loan that limited the available buyer pool. "It was also completed in a high-interest-rate environment and demonstrated continued investor confidence in Manhattan’s real estate market."
They made it happen: The Marcus & Millichap team included Kory Barbanel, transaction coordinator; Joe Koicim, senior managing director; Chris Dintrone, investment sales; and Logan Markley, senior associate.
CoStar senior market manager Grant Hunt contributed to this article.