Dealmakers: L.A. investment firm pays $4.9 million for 65 apartments

A 65-unit Hamburg apartment complex has been acquired by a Los Angeles investment firm for $4.9 million, in one of the largest commercial real estate deals in recent weeks.

Summit Equity Investments, of Studio City, Calif., purchased the Holiday Meadows Apartments at 121-125 Holiday Lane in Hamburg from Michael Lorigo’s Holiday Meadows LLC.

The 56,650-square-foot complex includes eight two-story  brick buildings, constructed in 1967 on just over 3.9 acres, with open parking, according to a listing brochure on Loopnet from Network One Realty. The renovated one- and two-bedroom apartments range in size from 650 to 900 square feet, with upgraded kitchens. Rents range from $800 to $975 per month.

Summit is a second-generation family office that buys and manages apartment properties in “strong, secondary markets throughout the U.S.”  The firm usually targets acquisitions of 200 or more units, valued at $10 million to $100 million, and currently has 22 properties in its portfolio, but is also seeking investors for three deals, including Holiday Meadows.

In other major deals:

• Jack Cooper Transport Co., a Kennesaw, Ga.-based car-hauling company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August and emerged last month, transferred its West Seneca property to the newly restructured company that was formed, now owned by New York hedge fund Solus Alternative Asset Management and other creditors. The value was recorded at $2.625 million, but the company’s operations remain intact after bankruptcy, which cut $300 million in debt and preserved 2,500 jobs. The 20.62-acre property is located at 75 Ransier Drive.
• Charlotte, N.C., developer Durban Group sold a 0.636-acre Family Dollar store property that it built at 909 Jefferson Ave. in Buffalo to Raymond Ronald Calnan, a Granada Hills, Calif., investor, for $1.92 million.
• A Clarence couple paid $1.85 million to buy a Dollar General store at 6889 Erie Road in Evans that was built on the site of a former gas station. Roy A. and Mario O. Pittman, through Romar WNY Properties, acquired the site from a development firm, the Broadway Group of Huntsville, Ala.
• The Seneca Nation of Indians bought a 1.1-acre parcel at 180 Perry St. in downtown Buffalo from an affiliate of Seneca Gaming Corp., its casino subsidiary that runs the nearby Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino a block away, as well as the hotel and casino operations in Niagara Falls and Salamanca. The price for the squat, blocklong brick building was listed at $1.335 million, although the buyer and seller are related. Spokesman Phil Pantano said the Senecas have no immediate plans for the site, which houses offices for the Seneca Gaming Authority, the tribal regulatory body for the casinos.  The tribe has contemplated an additional development project on that block, possibly with residential space, although Ellicott Development Co. bought out the Nation’s interest in three other properties at 186, 190 and 194 Perry.
• A Washington, D.C.-area investor bought the Delaware Avenue property containing the former Emerald North Nursing & Rehabilitation Center at the city’s “in-rem” foreclosure auction. Meeiling Lu of North Potomac, Md., paid $920,000 through WNYRT LLC to acquire 1209 Delaware. The facility, which was put into receivership by the state amid criticism of the prior owners’ management, is being operated by the Grand Healthcare System of Whitestone.
• Corning-based hospitality firm Visions Hotels paid $400,000 through Orchard Park Lodging Ventures to buy a 9.47-acre outparcel at McKinley Mall from an entity affiliated with DRA Advisors, a real estate investment firm based in New York City.
• An investor group that includes Common Bond Real Estate‘s Jason Yots and Buffalove Development‘s Bernice Radle has acquired the former Record Theatre building at 1786 Main St. from the estate of former owner Leonard Silver, who operated the business for over 40 years. The group, which paid $375,000 through The Monroe Building LLC, plans to spent $6 million to convert the building into 15 market-rate apartments, offices and retail space, including GObike Buffalo and Reddy Bikeshare, Gutter Pop Comics, a new record shop and Fry Baby Donut Co., which will occupy more than half the commercial space in the 33,000-square-foot building. The group also includes Derek King and Michael Puma from Preservation Studios and Travis Gordon and Richard Rogers of Urban Vantage.
• Benderson Development Co. paid $375,000 to buy a 1.58-acre Tops Markets property in the Town of Boston. The small supermarket site had been owned by Kurt Schneiter, through Mmart 1 LLC, and had previously been the North Boston Market Place, and earlier a CVS Pharmacy.
• Williamsville attorney David Kimelberg bought a three-story brick office building at 808 Main St. in downtown Buffalo, near St. Louis Church, from Peter H. and Mary L. Grace, for $380,000.
• Buffalo Games CEO Nagendra Raina bought a renovated four-unit apartment building at 354 N. Legion Drive in South Buffalo from Hook & Ladder Development, the firefighter-turned-developer trio. The purchase price was $250,000. The home includes two two-bedroom apartments and two one-bedroom units, with off-street parking.

Source:  The Buffalo News