Archstone Buys East Side Manhattan Building for $131 Million

Archstone, the national multifamily giant in the midst of an ownership struggle, announced on Tuesday it had purchased a Manhattan apartment tower for $131 million.

The 209-unit building at 377 East 33rd Street, in the Kips Bay neighborhood on the east side, was sold by Madison International Realty and RFR Holding, which is owned by Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs. The property is known as Eastbridge Landing and will be rebranded as Archstone Kips Bay.

Archstone now has 14 apartment buildings in New York and considers the city -- with its low vacancy rate and rising rents -- a core market.

We are extremely excited about being back in the business of acquiring incredible apartment communities in the best neighborhoods in the country, said R. Scot Sellers, Archstone's CEO, in a statement.

According to StreetEasy, the Costas Kondylis-designed building has rents ranging from around $2,500 per month for a studio to $6,825 per month for a three-bedroom apartment. Recent rents in the building have averaged $53 per square foot.

Dave Karson, Helen Hwang, Nat Rockett, Kate Pelet, Mark Ehlinger and Michael Henry from Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman represented the sellers.

The ownership was not a seller entering the market and there was no shortage of capital opportunities around this asset, but Archstone has such a terrific track record and reputation that we felt compelled to explore a transaction with them, said Karson in a statement.

We quickly became convinced that Archstone was the right execution, and we're all very pleased with the result. This asset has a great future and this is a win for both sides.

Although Archstone remains locked in an ownership battle between Sam Zell and the estate of Lehman Brothers, it continues to pursue acquisitions.

In November, Archstone purchased a 9.2 acre site in Phoenix, where it plans a 224-unit apartment complex. In August, Archstone bought a development lot in Washington D.C. for $14.7 million, with plans to build a new 206-unit apartment building. It has $575 million in new construction planned in Washington, according to officials.