Finance deal could produce 300 homes

Real Estate Weekly,  Sept 21, 2005  

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Longview Capital Advisors, Inc., has arranged a series of joint ventures between Westbury Realty and The Arker Companies that will result in nearly 300 units of affordable housing in Manhattan and the Bronx.

$5.3 million in debt financing provided by the New York City Housing Development Corp. and underwritten by Merrill Lynch has closed for development of what was previously a parking lot at 1471-1439 Ogden Avenue in the Bronx, the third in a series of three parcels involved in the deal, according to Mitchell Draizin, Longview president.

Westbury Realty, an owner and manager of parking and retail properties, owned these parcels in the Bronx and the Inwood section of Manhattan as part of its property portfolio, for which Longview had arranged first mortgage financing two years ago. Longview also had worked with The Arker Companies, one of New York's leading developers of affordable housing, having secured acquisition financing for the company on another project.

"Westbury preferred not to sell the properties, nor did the company want to be part of a development," Draizin said. "I brought Westbury together with Arker in a joint venture through the use of long-term lease arrangements."

On behalf of Westbury, Longview structured and negotiated a 99-year ground lease with Arker for each of the three properties. The other two properties are located at 1434 Ogden Avenue in the Bronx and at 228-238 Nagle Avenue in Inwood. When completed, the project, with a combined cost of $50 million, will provide a total of 289 units of affordable rental housing and 25,000 square feet of commercial space among the three locations.

At 1434 Ogden Avenue, plans are for an eight-story, 130,000 s/f building with 130 studio and one, two and three-bedroom units, and 10,000 s/f of ground floor commercial space. A 104,000 s/f building will be developed at 228-238 Nagle, with 100 studio and one and two bedroom apartments, and 12,000 s/f feet of commercial space. 1471 Ogden will have 59 units and 3,000 s/f of commercial space.

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