Contributed photo
Buyers Josef and Jacob Feldman of MOD Equities: Now the owners of 145 more Dwight neighborhood apts.
A New York-based landlord team that has long been active in New Haven’s real estate market added 145 more apartments to its local portfolio — in part by paying twice as much as the city-appraised value for a recently built Howe Street luxury apartment complex.
Those are among the latest local property transactions, as recorded on the city’s online land records database. (See below for a full roundup of recent sales.)
On Nov. 3, Broadway Elm LLC — a holding company affiliated with MOD Equities — spent a combined $34.6 million buying six different Dwight neighborhood apartment buildings from holding companies controlled by Cambridge Realty’s Nick Falker.
Thomas Breen photo
100, 104 Howe St.: Now sold as part of $34.6M deal.
Outside 100 Howe St.
One of those sales saw the MOD affiliate pay Falker’s company $18.8 million for the 84-unit apartment complex at 100 Howe St., the two-family house at 61 Edgewood Ave., the three-family house at 65 Edgewood Ave., the six-unit apartment building at 94 Howe St., and the six-unit apartment building at 98 Howe St. The city most recently appraised those properties for local tax purposes as worth a combined sum of $12,380,400, or 35 percent less than what they sold for.
The other sale saw the MOD affiliate pay Falker’s company $15.8 million for the 44-unit apartment complex at 104 Howe St, also known as “The Elm.” The city last appraised that brand new luxury apartment building — which opened in October 2021 and features rents ranging from $1,595 to $4,995 per month — as worth $8,010,000, or roughly half of what it sold for.
These $34.6 million worth of property transactions come three and a half years after Falker’s company bought these very same properties — with the big caveat that 104 Howe St. was then a surface parking lot, and not a new 44-unit luxury apartment building — for a combined sum of $15.3 million.
They also represent just the latest instance of real estate investors paying millions upon millions of dollars more for large apartment complexes, mostly luxury and downtown adjacent, above what the city appraised those same properties as worth only last year. Click here, here, here, here and here for other recent examples.
And click here to read an Independent article from earlier this year in which city Assessor Alex Pullen described how investors and the city have different approaches to valuation. “The city is thinking about: ‘What is this property worth at this point in time?’” Pullen said during that interview. “We’re capitalizing one year’s income stream. We’re thinking: ‘What is the property worth at this time of the revaluation?’” That’s different from what investors think about, especially in a hot real estate market with rapidly rising values. “They may want a property so they can get favorable mortgage terms to pull money out of the property,” Pullen said. Or they may want to “establish a stronghold in a city like New Haven,” and thereby achieve an “economy of scale” and its associated lower management fees by owning more large properties in close proximity to one another.
Thomas Breen file photo
Developer Nick Falker (second from left) with Mayor Elicker at 104 Howe St. ribbon cutting in October 2021. One year later, Falker's company has sold that new luxury complex for twice its appraised value.
In an email comment sent to the Independent Wednesday afternoon, Josef Feldman, who runs MOD Equities with his brother Jacob, confirmed that these newly acquired properties will indeed be “added under the Mod Equities umbrella.” (The manager of the holding company that bought these properties is a Long Island-based man named Morris Feldman. Josef Feldman is listed on the secretary of the state’s business database as the agent for the buyer LLC.)
“We are extremely excited to have the opportunity to purchase a legacy portfolio of this caliber and continue to be active in the New Haven market as a whole,” Josef Feldman told the Independent. “Most of the portfolio purchased was updated and the buildings are in great shape. We are typically long term owners who plan to manage and maintain these properties well into the future.”
These sales mark just the latest local multi-million-dollar property deal MOD Equities has been a part of in recent years. In August, after winning various residential development approvals for the long-vacant former Harold’s bridal shop on Elm Street, MOD sold that still-empty building for $4.85 million. In November 2021, after winning a residential development approval to convert the eight-story office building at 129 Church St. into 92 new apartments, MOD sold that downtown landmark for $8 million. MOD is also currently in the process of converting the former James English building at Court and State Street into 39 new apartments and, in East Rock, they’re also working on converting the former Church of the Redeemer on Whitney Avenue into 24 apartments.
Roundup: Vacant Grand Ave Properties Sold For $3.1M
873, 887 and 897 Grand Ave.
In other recent local property transaction news:
• On Nov. 1, JS Dorothy LLC — a holding company controlled by Joel Strulovich of Airmont, N.Y. — spent $3.1 million buying the long-vacant commercial buildings at 873, 887 and 897 Grand Ave. from Achtov LLC, a holding controlled by Edward Roubeni and William Ahdout of Great Neck, N.Y. The city last appraised those three properties as worth a combined sum of $1,634,300. Click here and here for previous Independent articles about the blight and legal battles the city fought with Roubeni over these neglected Wooster Square properties.
“We are getting up to speed on recent developments particularly given the longstanding challenges with this site,” city Economic Development Administrator Mike Piscitelli recently told the Independent when asked for comment about these Grand Avenue property sales. “The new owner has not yet reached out and I cannot yet forecast any forward movement. The neighbors have had to deal with deteriorating conditions for a long time.”
• On Nov. 8, a holding company controlled by Beachwold Residential’s Gideon Friedman purchased the 500-unit luxury apartment tower at 360 State St. and its garage, commercial space, and adjacent vacant lot from the union pension fund-backed MEPT Chapel Street LLC for $160 million. The city last appraised these properties as worth a combined sum of $115,071,261. Click here to read a full recent Independent article about this transaction and about the new owner’s plans for the property.
• On Oct. 21, a holding company controlled by Roomunity’s Yoon-Seok Lee purchased the 23-unit apartment complex at 441 Chapel St. for $5.2 million from a holding company controlled by Joseph Cohen. That property last sold for $3.9 million in 2015, and the city last appraised it as worth $3,151,500. Click here to read a full recent article about this transaction in New Haven Biz.
• On Sept. 30, an affiliate of the megalandlord Ocean Management bought the eight-unit apartment building at 192 Fitch St. for $2.2 million from a holding company controlled by Meshulam Haas. That property, which used to be owned by the local homelessness services nonprofit New Reach and which used to provide housing for eight formerly homeless families, was last sold for $1.325 million in 2021. The city last appraised it as worth $1,063,400. Click here to read a full recent Independent article about this transaction and about Ocean’s plans for the property.
• On Sept. 29, a holding company controlled by the Chicago-based real estate company CA Ventures paid a combined sum of $5,742,500 to holding companies controlled by Paul Denz to purchase the vacant lots at 808 Chapel St. and 842 Chapel St. That was part of a larger $6.75 million deal that saw CA Ventures buy long-empty properties from Denz and the city. Click here to read a full recent Independent article about that transaction, and about how CA Ventures has now begun construction on a long-delayed plan to build 166 new apartments on those sites.
• Affiliates of the local megalandlord Mandy Management recently spent a combined $1,811,000 buying seven different residential properties containing 17 different apartments. Those newly acquired Mandy properties include 78 Hubinger St., 40 Harding Pl., 68 Spring St., 338 Sherman Ave., 204 Eastern St., 26 Fox St., and 30 Fox St. The city most recently appraised those properties as worth a combined sum of $1,774,100.
See below for a roundup of recent local property sales.
New Haven land records database
