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BROOKLYN, NY-A prime residential apartment building at 483 Ocean Pkwy. in the Kensington section of Brooklyn was sold in all-cash transaction valued at $12.4 million. Massey Knakal Realty Services was the sole broker in this transaction. A source close to the deal tells GlobeSt.com that the seller was Ben Bellini.

The property sold for $255.14 per sf to an institutional buyer from Manhattan. The source says that the buyers were a real estate fund who outbid everyone on all cash basis and has requested to be named only by its purchasing entity--483 Ocean Parkway Ltd. Partners.

The 90 foot by 120 foot property contains 63 units over approximately 48,600 sf. The elevatored, six-story building boasts a sixth floor duplex and two penthouse units in addition to a full underground parking garage. The sale of the property, which is nearly 40 years old and had never been on the market before, prompted a bidding war. The transaction occurred at a capitalization rate of 4.9%.

The source tells GlobeSt.com that the property was built by Bellini's grandfather. Ben Bellini had inherited a 50% stake in the property and his aunt the other 50%. During the 80's when Kensington had vacancy rates of over 30%, Ben was able to buy out his aunt's share, at which point he began cleaning up the building on his own and renovating it after years of neglect.

"483 Ocean Parkway is by far one of the most well-kept and well-organized buildings you will ever see," says Massey Knakal broker Jason Maier, who exclusively represented the seller. "The Ocean Parkway corridor continues to show that its sale price cap rates can easily compete with the low cap rates in Manhattan, but with much greater upside as most rents on Ocean Parkway still average only 75% of current free market units."

When the Section 8 Europeans moved in and brought vacancy rates down to zero, Ben started focusing on renovating all the units with modern kitchens and bathrooms, the source explains. He created master penthouse duplex units on the sixth floor that rivaled some of the most luxurious apartments in Manhattan.

The source tells GlobeSt.com that "because Ben had refurbished this building by hand and the fact that his grandfather built it, great pride was taken in the overall up keep of the property. All the work allowed him to increase his income every year by an average of $50,000 per year. These increases helped bring the value of the property to the level it sold for.

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