MONTVILLE, NJ—An affiliate of New York City-based Cammeby's International has acquired the 764-unit Rachel Gardens apartment complex here for $136 million. The property was in the center of a 21-year high-profile lawsuit involving New Jersey developer Zygmunt Wilf.

The deal was announced by Woodridge, NJ-based brokerage firm The Kislak Co. Inc., which said the deal involved the largest multifamily property sale in the state of New Jersey since 2011. The sale was based on a court order last year when a Morris County Superior Court Judge awarded $110 million to two business partners who claimed they were cheated out of revenue from the complex. Kislak Vice President Jeff Squires represented both parties in the transaction. President Robert Holland and COO Jason Pucci provided transaction management and support.

Kislak was appointed as the exclusive broker after Judge Deanne Wilson ruled against Wilf, who owns the NFL's Minnesota Vikings, and his family in the case brought by former Wilf partners Ada Reichmann of Toronto and her brother Josef Halpern, according to NJBiz.

The brokerage firm states that Cammeby's offer was $1 million above the listing price with a considerable non-contingent deposit and no due diligence. Three other interested parties made offers at $135 million.

“There are only a handful of apartment complexes of the size and quality of Rachel Gardens in northern New Jersey and they rarely, if ever, sell,” says Kislak's Squires. “Our exclusive listing represented an extraordinary and unique opportunity for investors to acquire a large well-performing property in an affluent community only thirty minutes from Manhattan. Occupancy at Rachel Gardens is consistently high with waiting lists for some units. These factors contributed to a frenzy of interest from many investors, several at a sub 5% cap rate.”

Constructed between 1989 and 1999, Rachel Gardens, the only apartment property in Montville, consists of 531 two-bedroom apartments, 226 one-bedroom apartments and seven studio apartments in 32 three-story buildings. A total of 596 of the units are market rate and 168 of the units are affordable. See story in NJBiz.