161 W 75 Sponsor block sale?

See the sponsor's 20th offering-plan amendment, from March 15th, at http://97.74.79.241/161w7520thamendment.pdf

The amendment lists only 21 apartments, though. Maybe the sale included shares in other buildings, as the sponsor's got a mortgage covering shares in more than one.

30 yrs...any thoughts on this transaction?

Walter: I did a little digging.

Sponsor = Heller Realty = Metropolitan Equities (which makes sense, because they sold the last 2 sponsor owned apts) = Robert M. Ross (?) They own quite a few bldgs and shares in converted bldgs on the UWS.

Buyer is James Development of 780 WEA. This may not be an arms' length transfer because 780wea is a fairly recent conversion by Walter Samuels and I'm not sure who wound up with the sponsor unsold (presumably RC/RS apts).

At first blush, Heller Realty doesn't seem connected with James Development. James Development (principals are the Fessels & Klausners) own the unsold units at 780WEA.

This was probably the pool summary.
http://www.markzborovsky.com/MZCO/Wellston.htm

Nice. James Dev. picked up the unsold shares at 780WEA for 1.3m+ in '95. They recently sold 4+ apts (vacated) at the 780WEA, so the timing worked out to get these unsold units at 161W75.

Thanks for the color. So, what does this say about value? or are rc/rs units just too darn difficult to value and therefore too risky a proposition for anyone without deep pockets and a long time horizon?

I don't know if they're difficult to value - deals close all the time for blocks of RC/RS apts, so obviously the markets bite at some time. My "sense" is that you need deep pockets and a very long time horizon. Being an onsite-manager also helps, many sponsors (if they didn't go bust) stayed on to manage bldgs. If there is a sliver of hope of vacating a tenant, there's a big payoff.

30yrs was involved in one (or more) conversations on that stretch of WEA.

excellent property in excellent location, excellent long term investment - for a well capitalized buyer