The buying spree began earlier this year when TreeTop closed onthe $22million purchase of Parkwood Place, a 293-unit complex onMt. Prospect Ave. in the city's Forest Hills section, in a jointventure with Alex. Brown Realty Inc. The complex has sinceundergone a $1-million capital improvement program.

TreeTop also recently completed the acquisition of the MLKPortfolio, a 256-unit complex encompassing the full city block at775 and 777 Martin Luther King Blvd., between University Heightsand the city's Lincoln Park Arts District. The seller was localinvestor Kenneth Pasternak.

"The MLK Portfolio is noteworthy in the ongoing rehabilitationof the neighborhood, where 3,000 subsidized apartments and newmarket-rate townhomes are either being built or restored,"Mermelstein says. "The buildings are currently 30% vacant and inneed of upgrades. We're planning $5 million in large-scalerenovations."