Camber acquires 1,527 units in East New York from DeMatteis for reported $845M

UPDATED 7:45 a.m., January 31, 2025: Camber Property Group through the entity LP Preservation LLC acquired ownership of the Linden Plaza Apartments in a deal reported at $845 million from the DeMatteis Organization through the entity Linden Plaza Housing Co., Inc. of six tax lots including the 1,276-unit property at 735 Lincoln Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn, 319-unit residential elevator building (D7) at 671 Lincoln Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn, and specialty building (Z9) at 735 Lincoln Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn. The expected use is cash flowing. The transfer value in New York City property records was just a fraction of the reported value, at $87.7 million.

The Commercial Observer reported on the sale with the price of $845 million earlier this month.
The deal closed on December 30, 2024 and was recorded on January 24, 2025. The six properties have 1,758,394 square feet of built space and 184,966 square feet of additional air rights according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The Acris transfer price per built square foot is $49 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.) The price per unit for the reported sale price of $845 million would be $480,659.
The signatory for DeMatteis Organization was Alan C. Sullivan. The signatory for Camber Property Group was Rick Gropper. The contract date was December 30, 2024. According to a declaration of interests filed the same day, Camber Property Group is the beneficial owner of the property, while Settlement Housing Fund is the titular fee owner.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has records that the buyer Camber Property Group purchased five properties in four transactions for a total of $31.7 million and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller DeMatteis Organization had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The former owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Alan Sullivan, head officer and Robert Vaccarello, officer. The business entity is Linden Plaza Preservation, Lp.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the properties for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the properties have received 13 DOB violations, $16,050 in ECB penalties, more than 100 housing violations, $33,315 in OATH penalties, and 20 housing litigations in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The block

On the tax block of 735 Lincoln Avenue, PincusCo has identified the owners of one of the 11 commercial properties representing zero square feet of the 370,380 square feet. The identified owner is City Of New York.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 98 percent of the 370,380 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 2 percent of the space.

The seller

The PincusCo database currently indicates that DeMatteis Organization owned at least one commercial property with 576 residential units in New York City with 693,459 square feet and a city-determined market value of $119 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio consists of at least a single elevator property. It is located in Manhattan.

The buyer

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Camber Property Group owned at least 75 commercial properties with 7,765 residential units in New York City with 8,277,966 square feet and a city-determined market value of $520 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $2 billion in debt, with top three lenders as NYC Housing Development Corporation, New York City Housing Authority, and Merchants Bank of Indiana respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 82 percent of the 8,277,966 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with D3 properties next occupying 13 percent of the space. The bulk, or 86 percent of the built space, is in Bronx, with Brooklyn next at 11 percent of the space.
Correction: A previous version of this post gave an incorrect number of residential units.

Direct link to Acris document. link