Orbach Group Acquires Manhattan, Pennsylvania M-F Buildings for $70M

 By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

Meyer Orbach, president

The Orbach Group acquired two portfolios totaling 635 rental apartment units across New York City and Pennsylvania for $70 million, increasing its multi-family holdings to more than 5,000 total units.

“We are always in the market looking for deals and we’ve been buying buildings every year for the last 10 or 11 years,” Meyer Orbach, The Orbach Group’s president, told Commercial Property Executive. “We’re a family business and don’t need to justify returns to any investors and are looking to buy good stuff in good areas and can afford to wait to receive our return.”

In one transaction, the company purchased a six-building, 105-unit Manhattan portfolio for $30 million. Five buildings are located on Amsterdam Avenue, on the West Side, between 105th and 108th Avenues, with the sixth building at Cathedral Parkway off Columbus Avenue.

“We already owned a nice portfolio in the city and continually want to add on to that,” Orbach said. “We own 22 buildings within a few blocks of the six buildings we bought, and we know the market place there already, we have workers there already and this just adds on to an interesting portfolio pretty much.”

The portfolio also included six retail stores, with credit tenants such as Dunkin Donuts, Dominos Pizza, and Subway.

The other transaction was for a 527-unit portfolio in Pennsylvania that sold for $40 million. Included in that deal were a 352-unit apartment complex in Bensalem, and a 175-unit complex in Norristown. Both complexes include Housing Assistance Payment contracts.

“We like the location and in Bensalem we own 200 units next door already, so again we’re adding on to a market we already know,” Orbach said. “The properties were in great shape and we’re going to go in and try to maximize our return.”

The developer has already begun a capital improvement program for each of the newly acquired buildings, which will include new elevators, lobbies, and exteriors. Plans are also underway to fully renovate individual units as needed.

Looking ahead, the company plans to acquire additional properties, and not just on the East Coast.