By: Ellen Cans
Stonehenge Real estate Group, led by Ofer Yardeni, just picked up another rental building in the far West Village.
As reported by Crain’s NY, the building located at 780 Greenwich St. has 88 rental apartments, ranging from studios to three-bedroom units. Stonehenge NYC paid $80.4 million for the building, as per property records. The previous owner was Heller Organization, which owns 13 other multifamily properties across New York City. The 70,000-square-foot building was built in 1950, and currently has a part-time doorman. The six-story Art Deco building is in a desirable neighborhood surrounded by the Meatpacking District, The High Line, and Hudson River Esplanade. To get an idea of the rental prices at the building, in June, a one-bedroom, one-bath apartment at the building was rented out at $6,850 per month, while a studio apartment was rented out for $4,200, as per Street Easy.
Currently, Manhattan’s rental market is red hot, and Stonehenge plans to renovate the apartments and amenities at the building and switch it to its own property management services, the company announced. Stonehenge New York City boasts a portfolio of 26 buildings with a total of about 3,200 units, representing a total of 3.5 million square feet of real estate property. The private company was founded in the early ‘90s by Yardeni, who serves as the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer. Yardini’s motto is, “If it’s not broken, improve it,” as per the company website. The company specializes in no-fee luxury apartment rentals in Manhattan and Long Island City. The firm’s portfolio includes buildings in Chelsea, Gramercy, Midtown East & West, Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, West Village, Murray Hill and Long Island City.
In February Yardeni’s firm, in partnership with Stockbridge Capital, had purchased an Upper East Side rental building at 354 E. 91st St, paying $128.2 million to previous owner Carmel Partners. Similarly, the company set out to renovate there, as per Crain’s. In 2020 the company had bought another 114-unit residential apartment building in Midtown East in partnership with retired Yankee Alex Rodriguez and the Modlin Group.
The luxury rental market has been very lucrative for Manhattan real estate companies. Since the pandemic rebound last year, Manhattan rents have continued to climb higher. In July, they topped an average price of $5,000 per month for the first time in history, as per data from Douglas Ellemann. Well-to-do tenants, who can afford the price hikes, have been snapping up the pricey apartments. However, the higher rentals have been pushing some apartment seeker out to the outer boroughs of NY, where prices are lower, StreetEasy reported recently. Search activity for homes in Brownsville, Brooklyn, rose 49 percent, and in Maspeth, Queens home searches jumped 58 percent, compared to the previous year.
As per Crain’s, other big real estate players have also been working to snatch up rental buildings in the city. Meadow Partners recently paid $58 million for two East Village properties, and the company had already bought a portfolio of 12 buildings last year, paying another $58 million. Investment firm Carlyle Group has been on a spending spree over the past year, shelling out a total of $500 million to amass 130 rental properties in various parts of Brooklyn.
