Stonehenge Buys Upper East Side Tower for $115M

Stonehenge NYC has acquired a 32-story, 196-unit multifamily at 408 E. 92^nd Street for $115M, a deal that translates to about $587K/unit.

According to reports, the deal for the tower—known as RiverEast—is still covered by the 421a tax credits that expired last year for new developments. The new owner is required to keep 25% of the units rent stabilized until 2026.

At that point, the owner will have to option to extend the commitment to maintain affordable units for another 15 years or convert all of the apartments to market-rate housing.

UBS bought the building for about $95M in 2006 from Chicago-based developer the John Buck Company. The Swiss bank put the property on the market last year, aiming for up to $120M. Eastdil Secured’s Gary Phillips, Will Silverman and Daniel Parker brokered the transaction.

Stonehenge bought the property debt-free, with Eastdil in the process of arranging acquisition financing.

Units at RiverEast that are not covered by stabilization rent for up to $7,000 a month for a two-bedroom unit. Affordable units at the Upper East Side Tower are capped at $931 a month for households with incomes of no more than $52K per year, according to the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

In February, Stonehenge teamed up with San Francisco-based investor Stockbridge Capital Group to buy the 163-unit Cole in another Upper East Side deal for a price of nearly $130M. The seller was Carmel Partners.

The 20-year-old building at 354 East 94^th Street was 100% market rate units, which allowed landlords to raise prices.

In another recent Upper East Side development, Chetrit Group in November filed plans to build a 20-story condominium project at 260 East 72nd Street. Chetrit’s development will encompass 190K SF and include 53 apartments and 3,400 SF of commercial space.

The plans were filed for a corner parcel, but Chetrit also owns an adjacent vacant lot, which once held a church, and two lots that connect through to East 71st Street.

The filings mark the fruition of culmination of Chetrit’s effort to develop the corner of Second Avenue and 72nd Street, an intersection that has benefitted more than any other from the Second Avenue subway extension, a decades-long project that extended the city subway line to three new subway stations on the Upper East Side.