A&E Pays $249M for Brooklyn Portfolio

The LeFrak family developed the properties between 1957 and 1961 and has invested more than $18 million in capital improvements.

Annapolis. Image courtesy of A&E Real Estate

A&E Real Estate has made a major expansion into Southern Brooklyn with its acquisition of a 14-property portfolio. The firm acquired the multifamily portfolio from The LeFrak Organization for $248.7 million. A&E also secured a $170 million fixed-rate loan from Signature Bank to help with the acquisition. The financing was arranged by Estreich & Co.’s Jonathan Estreich and Jason Boxer.

The Southern Brooklyn portfolio totals 1,212 apartments throughout Brooklyn’s Gravesend and Sheepshead Bay neighborhoods. The LeFrak family developed these communities between 1957 and 1961 and has invested more than $18 million in capital improvements throughout the portfolio since 2015. The investments include installing Wi-Fi improvements across the communities. The portfolio also has a total of 306 parking spaces and five commercial units.

The largest buildings in the portfolio include 2750 Homecrest Ave. and 2775 E. 12th St, both of which offer 189 units. The third largest community, 2375 E. 3rd St., totals 134 apartments. According to A&E, the portfolio is 98 percent occupied.

Douglas Eisenberg, executive chairman of A&E Real Estate, said in prepared remarks that the firm still believes in the long-term strength of the New York City market, despite the economic, regulatory and pandemic-related uncertainties that the overall residential market has seen.

Taking another bite of the Big Apple

The acquisition of the South Brooklyn portfolio marks the firm’s latest multifamily transaction in New York City. In the last 12 months, A&E acquired 3,284 apartments across 43 buildings in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. In April, the firm acquired 1080 Amsterdam Ave. from SL Green for $42.5 million, making for A&E’s third acquisition from the same seller in the past year.

Throughout 2022, A&E also acquired 140 and 160 Riverside Blvd. on the Upper West Side from Equity Residential, 92-40 Queens Blvd. in Queens’ Rego Park neighborhood, and a 22-community portfolio located in Queens Village. A&E’s Queens portfolio spans a wide range of communities, from its luxury 388-unit high-rise community, The Opal, to the 53-building Kew Gardens Hills that totals 1,268 units across 12 city blocks.