MIDDLETOWN, NY-A portfolio of five multi-family assets, including two locally based communities, has changed hands. Coolidge Equities, a subsidiary of Houlihan Parnes/iCap Realty Advisors of White Plains, acquired 655 units or four of the five properties from A&R Fuel, according to officials with the Kislak Company of Woodridge, NJ, which brokered the deal.

The portfolio includes two Middletown communities--Country Manor on Stratford Lane, a 180-unit garden-style property and the 160-unit Stevens Manor at the intersection of Silver and Scotchtown roads. Coolidge Equities purchased both the Country Manor and Stevens Manor communities. In a separate deal, A&R Fuel sold another Orange County-based property, Greenhouse Apartments, a 69-unit multifamily complex on Stewart Avenue in Newburgh, to GHA Realty.

Also included in the Coolidge Equities transaction were two properties in Dutchess County--the 246-unit Village Crest Apartments on Maloney Road in the Town of Poughkeepsie and the 69-unit Hopewell Gardens on Route 376 in East Fishkill. M&T Realty Capital provided financing for all but the Greenhouse Apartments property. HSBC funded the Greenhouse Apartments purchase.

Janet Bortz, VP of the Kislak Co. who brokered the Greenhouse Apartments deal for the buyer and the seller, says, "With no rent control and expanding rental markets, the current demand for multi-family investment properties in the Hudson Valley is as strong as ever. The area is quickly becoming an extremely popular option for investors and residents alike."

Kislak Co. VP Matt Weilheimer, who represented Coolidge Equities in its purchase transactions, "This was a complex transaction and we had to work very closely with the buyers and the seller to complete several hurdles along the way." Stevens Manor, Greenhouse Apartments and Hopewell Gardens were fully occupied at the time of the sale.