Arthur Delot-Vilain photo
Imperial Gardens: Under new ownership.
A mystery buyer affiliated with a local property manager who used to work for Ocean Management has purchased a 72-unit Westville apartment complex for $10.25 million.
According to a warranty deed posted to the city’s land records database on Dec. 19, a company called 492 Fountain LLC paid $10.25 million to Imperial Gardens LLC to buy the apartment buildings at 492 – 514 Fountain St.
The property last sold for $4.25 million in 2011. The city last appraised it for tax purposes as worth $8,888,100.
The seller of the apartment complex is a holding company controlled by Sharon and David Bender of Westbrook.
The buyer, meanwhile, is a holding company that lists New Haven’s Yohay Levram as manager.
Gerald Giaimo, a lawyer representing 492 Fountain’s new owners, said that Levram “serves in an administrative capacity” for 492 Fountain LLC, as well as for other LLCs like GLI Holdings and Hammock Home Management. Giaimo stressed that Levram “holds no ownership interest in 492 Fountain LLC, GLI Holdings LLC, nor the property management company, Hammock Home Management.”
Giaimo then declined to disclose “non-public information” about the ownership structure of these companies, including the one that now owns 492 Fountain.
Levram used to work for the megalandlord-property management company-real estate investment outfit Ocean Management. In recent months, Levram’s new company has taken over management of at least one formerly Ocean-operated apartment complex, on Quinnipiac Avenue.
In a letter dated Dec. 6 that was deposited in 492 Fountain St. residents’ mailboxes, Imperial Gardens, LLC notified its tenants of the sale of the complex to a company called “Fountain NH Holdings, LLC.” Fountain NH Holdings and 492 Fountain both list Levram as manager. The letter tells residents to direct future rental payments to Hammock Home Management starting Jan. 1.
Neither Levram nor a representative for Hammock responded to a request for comment.
Vanguard Private Client Group, a New Haven-based real estate investment firm, brokered the sale of 492 Fountain. Vanguard Vice President Andrew Stein told the Independent that it took almost a year to negotiate and finalize the deal, pointing to “the challenges of navigating a market with fluctuating interest rates and uncertainty.”
A pedestrian's view of Imperial Gardens.