Arker Cos. Acquires Affordable Apartments on Staten Island for $27M

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

New York—Two affordable housing properties in the New York borough of Staten Island have traded hands for a combined total of $27 million. The adjacent properties, 195 and 231 Steuben St., contain a total of 198 units—99 in each building—and are known jointly as the Terrace Gardens apartment community. Each building has its own elevator and parking lot.

The buyer was Arker Cos., an affordable housing preservation specialist, while DelShah Capital, a full-service real estate firm, sold the community. The buyer purchased the Steuben St. properties as part of a tax-exempt bond financing deal, and anticipates that the rehabilitation of the property will be completed in 2014.

DelShah acquired 195 and 231 Steuben St. July 2008. All of its units are HUD subsidized, with cash flow from the property paying over a 10 percent coupon to equity.

Dane Professional Consulting Group, which specializes in affordable housing and real estate, brokered the sale. According to Dane president Heidi Burkhart, both parties were focused on the preservation of the housing. Affordable housing is in high demand on Staten Island, but supply is short.

DelShah’s recent acquisitions include 22 Renwick Street, 55 Gansevoort Street, and 11 East 36th Street in Manhattan. Other recent affordable housing transactions for Dane include the sale of the O’Neil Apartments in Troy, N.Y., which is part of the Section 8 HUD Housing Assistance Payment; the McIver Houses, a HUD Rental Assistance Demonstration project in East Orange, N.J.; and Stratford Towers, a Mitchell-Lama community located in the Bronx.