Markeshia Ricks photo
NHR’s Juan Salas-Romer.
A local developer who has made a name building apartments for middle-income renters is shedding smaller properties to invest in larger-unit ventures Downtown and in Fair Haven Heights, as reflected in some of the latest recorded land sales in town.
Juan Salas-Romer, the man behind the local real estate company NHR Properties, sold a three-bedroom home at 338 Grand Ave. to Li Chen for $375,000 on Aug. 9, according to city land records. Salas-Romer’s holding company Whalley Redevelopers, LLC had owned the property since 2013, when it bought the Fair Haven home for $225,000.
Salas-Romer said that the recent sale is part of a larger strategy that NHR Properties is embarking on to divest itself of some of its smaller three-family and four-family properties so that it can focus on larger apartment complexes with ten units or more.
“We’re working on bigger projects now,” Salas-Romer said. “We’re scaling up.”
NHR recently finished rehabbing and converting the historic Palladium Building on Orange Street into ten new upscale apartments, and is currently working on a new 62-unit mini-village, called New Heights, to be located on the banks of the Quinnipiac River in Fair Haven heights.
Salas-Romer said that NHR spent much of the early 2010s buying up three-family properties in several city neighborhoods, including Fair Haven. He said that he particularly liked the home at 338 Grand because of its proximity to Fair Haven Community Health Center.
Thomas Breen photo
338 Grand Ave.
“That was very attractive to us,” he said. “We work with nonprofits. We thought that was a good addition to our portfolio.”
But as NHR shifts its focus to larger projects like the Palladium and New Heights, he said, the company is looking to sell off roughly four or five smaller properties each year so as to free up some time, money, and attention that can be dedicated instead to that newer area of NHR’s business.
“That’s the way we’ve been planning on our capital,” he said. “It’s part of our cycle.”
Mandy Expands Newhallville Footprint
11 Willis St.
In other recent city property transactions, one of the city’s largest poverty landlords increased its Newhallville footprint by two homes, in some of the most recent property sales in town.
On Oct. 10, a company associated with the landlord, Mandy Management, acquired a colonial, single-family home at 11 Willis St. and a two-family home at 247 West Hazel St, according to the city’s land record database.
Those were two of 16 residential property transactions uploaded to the city’s online database between Oct. 11 and Oct. 18.
On Sept. 27, Menahem Edelkopf purchased the Willis Street four-bedroom house from the Wilmington Savings Fund Society for $85,000. The city appraised the property at $123,100 in 2017, and the property last sold in 2008 for $177,572.
Edelkopf then deeded the Willis Street property on Oct. 10 for one dollar to Netz Bonds New Haven X, LLC, a holding company for Mandy Management’s Menachem Gurevitch.
247 West Hazel St.
On Aug. 1, Omar Gonzalez bought the four-bedroom West Hazel Street house at a foreclosure sale for $121,500. The city appraised the property at $126,600 in 2017, and the property last sold for $1 in 1989.
Gonzalez then deeded the property on Oct. 10 for one dollar to Netz Bonds New Haven IX Bentzy, LLC, also a holding company for Mandy Management’s Menachem Gurevitch.
Here’s why the sales happened that way, according to someone involved: Gurevitch lives out of town. The company arranged for local people who could show up in person locally to purchase the properties for Gurevitch with Gurevitch’s money, then transfer them to Gurevitch. In one case, the company needed a non-Jew to purchase the property (West Hazel) at a foreclosure sale on Saturday, which is the Jewish Sabbath.
613 Chapel St.
In Wooster Square, Christopher Jakob Lauder and Kendall Lynn Keil bought the two-family home at 613 Chapel St. from Marianne Mazan for $660,000 on Oct. 9. The city appraised the property at $521,100 in 2017.
Mazan bought the historic 19th century four-bedroom property from the city for $2,000 in 1971 as part of a Land Disposition and Rehabilitation Agreement among Mazan, the city, and the New Haven Redevelopment Agency.
Also in Wooster Square, Nils Rudi purchased the two-story condo at 329 Greene St., Unit 11 from J&J Akoury Construction, Inc. on Oct. 18 for $625,000. The city appraised the property at $542,100 in 2017, and the condo last sold for $380,000 in 2017.
399 Fountain St.
In Westville, Ganim C., LLC, a holding company for the Israel-based company Ganim Consultants, LTD., bought the three-family property at 399 Fountain St. for $410,325 on Sept. 28 from 530 Eastern NH, LLC.
530 Eastern NH, LLC is a holding company for Shmuel Aizenberg’s Ocean Management company, one of the city’s larger landlords. The Secretary of the State’s LLC database lists the agent, or local representative, for the property’s new owners, Ganim C., LLC, as Ocean Management.
The city appraised the property at $295,100 in 2017. The property last sold for $253,507 in Jan. 2018.
672 Winchester Ave.
In Newhallville, Hernan Quezada Solano purchased the three-family home at 672 Winchester Ave. from Christopher Cameron for $136,000 on Oct. 15. The city appraised the property at $125,100 in 2017, and the property last sold for $89,000 in 2009.
88 Lilac St.
Also in Newhallville, Robert Davis purchased the two-family home at 88 Lilac St. from Tymeek Williams and Gregory Bozzi for $135,000 on Oct. 5. The city appraised the property at $92,400 in 2017, and the property last sold for $90,000 in 2017.
515 East St.
In the Mill River District, A. Saldamarco Properties, LLC, which is a holding company for Anthony Saldamarco, bought three garages at 507, 511 – 513, and 515 East St. from Stephen Petrillo, the trustee of the Robert S. Petrillo Family Trust, for $10,000 on Oct. 5.
The city last appraised those buildings at $72,700, $94,600, and $91,800 respectively in 2017. The buildings last sold for $78,000 total in 1985.
And in Morris Cove, Regina Banos purchased the Colonial, single-family home at 506 Lighthouse Rd. from Francis Lecardo for $136,250 on Sept. 27. The city appraised the property at $161,300 in 2017, and the property last sold for $217,000 in 2006.
Previous property sale coverage:
• Latest Sales: Mandy Buys In Heights
• Home Sale Price Doubles In 13 Years