UNION CITY/JERSEY CITY, NJ–Hudson County's multifamily properties are primed for rent growth and property appreciation that continues to outpace Northern New Jersey's six other apartment submarkets, according to Nicholas Nicolaou, senior vice president at Gebroe-Hammer Associates. The Hudson County market specialist, who recently arranged three separate trades totaling 148 units sold for $19.3 million in Union City and Jersey City, links optimal property performance and area gentrification to enduring investment activity.

“Hudson County is home to Northern New Jersey's most desirable, high-population-density neighborhoods and its highest concentration of multi-family properties,” says Nicolaou. “Like the migrating Manhattanites in search of rents substantially lower than New York City, development has moved inland away from the waterfront. As a result, established properties with value-add potential are realizing at-or-above market-rate rents upon turnover and occupancy rates of nearly 98 percent.”

In Union City, where approximately 75 percent of the municipality's residents are tenants, Nicolaou arranged the $8.1 million sale of 1405 Palisade Ave., a five-story, 67-unit complex just one-and-a-half miles from the Lincoln Tunnel. The three-building mid-rise property features a mix of spacious studio, one- and two-bedroom layouts fronting Palisade Avenue between 14^th and 15^th Streets. Three blocks south, Nicolaou also represented the seller and the identified the buyer in the $7 million trade of the Puritan and Mayfair Apartments, a 56-unit Renaissance-revival-era low-rise building. Located at 309-315 11^th St., at the corner of Palisade Avenue, the two walk-up buildings include studios, one- and junior one-bedrooms as well as two-bedroom units.

“Part of the famed North Hudson municipalities along the picturesque Palisades, Union City is the most densely populated – in the 50,000+ number-of-residents category – in the United States,” says Nicolaou. “It is now considered a best place to live and work and even retire, according to AARP's latest Top 10 rankings.”

Rounding out Gebroe-Hammer's recent Hudson County sales activity is the $4.2 million sale of 25 units in Jersey City's Journal Square neighborhood. Located at 77 Magnolia Ave., the four-story property is centrally situated within this unique-in-character business district, tree-lined residential area and transportation hub. Currently, Journal Square has several prominent redevelopment projects underway that include residential buildings and hi-rise mixed-use towers, all of which are attracting a “higher-income, professional tenant demographic,” Nicolaou says.

“While Hudson County has introduced the greatest number of new units to its inventory during the course of the past 10 years, it also has an unrivaled absorption rate on product spanning its total apartment inventory and all property-class categories,” he says. “Jersey City and North Hudson's multi-family investment market has enduring appeal among investors attributable to a diverse population reliant upon apartment living.”

Correction, 2/29/2016: An earlier version of this story had a dateline that incorrectly placed Union City in Pennsylvania. It is, of course, in New Jersey.

Instant Insights /

Gebroe-Hammer Sells Three Hudson County, NJ Apartment Complexes for $19.3M

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