International Investor Pays $146M for NJ Workforce Housing Portfolio

SADDLE BROOK, NJ—Murnick Property Group of Roseland, NJ has sold a seven-property “Northern/Central New Jersey Workforce Housing Apartment Portfolio” it has owned for half a century to an international investor for $146 million.

CBRE reports that a bidding process for the 1,035-unit portfolio attracted more than 33 offers. The portfolio benefits high occupancy, 4.1% average annual rent growth since 2014 and high resident retention.

The properties in the traded portfolio include: Washington Towers, East Orange, 197 units, 14 stories, constructed in 1964; Executive House, East Orange, 228 units, 23 stories, constructed in 1965; Ambassador Towers, East Orange, 161 units, nine stories, constructed in 1958; Munn Heritage, East Orange, 75 units, seven stories, constructed in 1913; Parkview Gardens, Newark, 24 units, four stories, constructed in 1947; Munroe Towers, Asbury Park, 261 units, 15 stories, constructed in 1965 and Lafayette House, Trenton, 89 units, 12 stories, constructed in 1966.

The CBRE team of Jeffrey Dunne, Gene Pride and Eric Apfel, along with Nat Gambuzza, John Veniero and John McFadden represented Murnick Property Group in the sale and also procured the buyer.

“We are proud of the relationships we developed with our tenants as we owned, operated and maintained these buildings over the last half-century,” said Jay Murnick of Murnick Property Group. “We hope that new ownership will continue to foster those relationships and wish them well in their ongoing endeavors.”

“Over 50 plus years, the seller assembled a portfolio of well built, transit centric, high-rise communities with an operational philosophy of maintaining the buildings to preserve their value,” says CBRE’s Dunne. “The Murnick’s timing in this sale is opportunistic, as the market demand for this type of property is as strong as we have experienced, though the purchaser will do well with the purchase as renter demand for well-maintained Class B apartments is also at historic levels and expected to continue for years ahead.”

He  notes that in the current multifamily market in the New York suburban markets, well-capitalized, experienced operators are aggressively pursuing and stretching on price to acquire Class B apartments in good, established markets. “This is due to strong rent growth, natural supply constraints and value-add potential,” Dunne says. “It’s impossible to build new apartments that will be comparable in rental rate to older Class B assets, which insulates these communities from new competition, thus enabling rents to grow as more renters enter the market.”