NEW YORK CITY-Locally based investment firm the Bluestone Group has completed the acquisition of a three-building, 218-unit North Bronx apartment complex worth $17.4 million. Separately, Bluestone announced it acquired four multifamily loans worth a total of $7 million, all backed by Bronx apartment properties.

Bluestone’s acquisition of the portfolio at 3138, 3150 and 3300 Bailey Ave. in the Bronx was completed in a joint venture with Lantower Realty LLC, a subsidiary of Toronto-based Lanterra Developments. In a release, Bluestone principal Marc Mendelsohn cites the company’s “reputation for closing deals quickly and with certainty” as a factor in attracting JV partners. “There are many investors who are looking to take advantage of the NYC distressed multi-family market, but are lacking experience in the local market or asset type.”

City Department of Finance records show that Bluestone acquired notes on the three properties this past May. “This is consistent with our mission of purchasing distressed debt as a means to property ownership,” co-principal Eli Tabak said in a release this past summer. “We believe there is a strong, continuing opportunity for Bluestone to build a multifamily portfolio by purchasing loans in the distressed arena.”

A Bluestone spokesman tells GlobeSt.com that following its purchase of the Bailey Avenue loans, the company was approached by Lantower to JV in a deal, “as they knew the borrower was actively marketing the Bailey properties for sale. They purchased the properties and ended up being on both sides of the deal.” Lantower was not a partner on the original note purchase.

The debt acquisitions announced Wednesday included three loans from Dime Savings Bank secured by three apartment buildings totaling 100 units and owned by California-based Millbank Real Estate and a note from Sovereign Bank secured by a 30-unit building located in the Bronx’s Soundview section. Tabak says in a release that via acquiring assets below the debt levels rather than at market prices, “it allows us to properly address the needs of the property and tenants. It is also consistent with our business model of purchasing distressed debt secured by assets acquired at the height of the market in overleveraged pro-forma based transactions.”