From left: Camber Property Group principals Rick Gropper, Andrew Moelis, Harlem Congregation for Community Improvement president Malcolm Punter and 104-110 West 144th Street in Harlem (Photos via Camber, Harlem Congregation, Ariel Property Advisors)
Camber Property Group has acquired a 60-unit, project-based Section 8 apartment complex in Central Harlem for $30 million.
Camber, a mixed-use and workforce housing developer, closed on a deal to buy the four-building Johanna Apartments complex at 104-110 West 114th Street from Renaissance Realty Group.
“Building new units is not the only way we can preserve affordable housing in New York City,” said Camber principal and co-founder Rick Gropper, adding that the acquisition was partially financed with a $20.5 million loan from Walker & Dunlop, with a longer term plan of switching it to a HUD loan.
The five-story apartment complex has been operated under a contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to offer homes for low-income families. But it was never regulated by the city’s Department of Housing Preservation, Gropper said, leaving it vulnerable to conversion into market rate apartments if a new owner chose to do so.
Camber is in the process of signing a 40-year regulatory deal with the city to maintain the affordability of the complex in exchange for a tax abatement, he said, noting that an agreement is expected to be approved shortly.
Camber worked on the deal in partnership with Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement, a nonprofit community revitalization group.
“The preservation of affordable housing is essential to aiding working low to moderate income families to remain in the city,” said Malcolm Punter, the nonprofit’s president & CEO, in a statement.
The Camber-Harlem Congregations partnership was also behind the Dr. Joan O. Dawson Plaza project, a 138-unit, fully affordable housing development at 11 West 118th Street in Central Harlem. The recently completed complex offers 94 units for low-income seniors and 41 homes for formerly homeless seniors.
Last month, Camber acquired a Hell’s Kitchen apartment building out of bankruptcy for $40.3 million.
