Thomas Breen photo
275 Winchester Ave., now under new ownership.
Two New Jersey-based investors have purchased the 158-unit Winchester Lofts luxury apartment complex — capping off a two-year local real estate spending spree that has seen that same landlord duo buy a total of 632 New Haven apartments for a price tag likely well in excess of $100 million.
According to a host of recent filings on the city’s land records database, a half-dozen holding companies affiliated with Lakewood, New Jersey-based investors Shloime “Steve” Rosenberg and Shlomo “Sol” Katz are now the owners of the Winchester Lofts apartment complex at 275 Winchester Ave.
They purchased the 158-unit property — which first opened its doors at the old Winchester Arms factory building in 2015 and which the city last appraised as worth $35.4 million — from a holding company affiliated with Forest City Realty Trust, which is a Cleveland-based subsidiary of the Canadian investment giant Brookfield Asset Management.
Winchester Lofts isn’t the first large local apartment complex Rosenberg and Katz’s company, known as SRK Management, has plunked down (likely) tens of millions of dollars to buy in recent years.
In December 2020, their company bought the 294-unit “Westville Village” apartment complex at 400 Blake St. for $50 million. In January 2021, their company bought a 137-unit Upper Westville apartment complex for $21 million. And in December 2021, their company bought the 42-unit “Whitney Modern” luxury apartment complex for $18.5 million.
“We believe in New Haven’s continued growth and economic drivers to support great long-term investments,” Rosenberg and Katz told the Independent in an email comment this week about why they bought Winchester Lofts, and why they’ve invested so much in local real estate in recent years. (See more below for their full comment.)
How much did they spend acquiring 158 more apartments at Winchester Lofts?
Tough to tell.
The Independent could not find on the land records database (or with the help of a staffer from the city clerk’s office) a warranty deed clearly documenting the property transfer and sale price. Nor could this reporter (or the city clerk’s office) find documentation of real estate conveyance taxes paid for this transfer.
The land records do include a document showing that Katz and Rosenberg’s companies pulled a $24.375 million mortgage loan from Signature Bank on Oct. 21 for 275 Winchester Ave.
The land records database also includes a number of filings confirming that the sale between Forest City and SRK in fact took place.
One such document is a “Prohibition Against Condominium Conversion” agreement for 275 Winchester Ave. that is dated Oct. 21. That document identifies the property’s seller as Winchester Lofts LLC — which is the Brookfield-affiliated company Forest City Realty Trust — and it identifies the property’s buyers as Winchester Loft Ventures LLC, Winchester Loft Ventures 2 LLC, Winchester Loft Ventures 3 LLC, Winchester Loft Ventures 4 LLC, Winchester Loft Ventures 5 LLC, Winchester Loft Ventures 6 LLC, and Winchester Loft Ventures 7 LLC — all of which are controlled by Rosenberg and Katz. That document also refers to a July 17 sale agreement between the Forest City-affiliated company and the SRK-affiliated company for this property.
Further confirming that the sale has taken place, earlier this fall, a resident of the Winchester Lofts apartment complex sent the Independent a letter she received on Oct. 20 informing all residents that the building had changed ownership, and that all rent payments should be made to Winchester Loft Ventures LLC.
And in an email exchange with the Independent on Tuesday, Katz and Rosenberg said that their company did indeed purchase the former factory-turned-luxury apartments, even as they declined to divulge exactly how much they spent. “It is our company policy to not speak to the economics and deal structure of our acquisitions,” they wrote.
Asked why no deed has been filed on the city land records and no real estate conveyance tax has been paid for this transfer, Rosenberg wrote: “I assume the recordation of the deed is in process, could be just filing delays.” He also declined to comment on the real estate conveyance tax, as “CT custom dictates that sellers pay conveyance taxes.” (Representatives from Forest City Realty Trust did not respond to email requests for comment by the publication time of this article.)
"We Believe In New Haven's Continued Growth"
What are their plans for the Winchester Lofts now that they own it? Do they intend to increase rents — which according to apartments.com can already reach as high as $2,995 per month for a two-bedroom? Will they be making any significant changes to the physical apartment building itself?
“Aside from keeping an eye on the effects of inflation, we do not plan on instituting a wide-scale plan for rental increases,” Rosenberg and Katz wrote. “We plan on investing in hardscaping and an exterior recreation area. We also plan on gradually performing upgrades to the amenities and common area to satisfy the demand and interests of our sophisticated tenants.”
And why invest so much money in New Haven real estate?
“For the past few years, SRK has been drawn to Greater New Haven because of Yale University’s presence, New Haven’s hard-working and proud population, and for New Haven’s culture, entertainment, and excellent dining,” the investor duo wrote. “We believe in New Haven’s continued growth and economic drivers to support great long-term investments. Also, as a local, professional management company, we are able to capitalize on our own synergies and internal infrastructure to provide excellent service to our tenants without having to pass too much cost onto our tenants even as we improve the properties that we acquire.”
Thomas Breen file photo
Newhallville/Prospect Hill/Dixwell Alder Steve Winter.
Asked for his take on Winchester Lofts changing hands, Newhallville/Prospect Hill/Dixwell Alder Steve Winter, who represents the ward that includes the apartment complex, said this sale speaks in part to investor confidence in further residential development in Science Park — namely, Alex Twining’s and L&M Development Partners’ plans to build out hundreds of new mostly market-rate apartments at the former factory complex as part of a project called Winchester Center. Just a few blocks away are active residential construction sites at 201 Munson and the former Joe Grate lot, as well as a soon-to-be-developed parcel off of the Farmington Canal on Ashmun Street.
“This whole stretch is really active and will change a lot,” Winter said about the former industrial core of the city that is now bursting with new apartments and new apartment plans.
He said he’s heard concerns from neighbors over the years about Winchester Lofts apartments that are so expensive that they just sit vacant. “It’s good that the vacancies are clearly down and the places have filled up,” Winter said about the property sale.
Eileen Scully, who has lived at Winchester Lofts for the past three years, told the Independent in a Thursday phone interview that — from a renter’s perspective — “the experience has not changed perceptibly since the changeover” of owners.
She said that the management and maintenance crews under the previous owners were “phenomenal.” She added that the number of people working at Winchester Lofts appears to have been reduced, “but we know the people who are working now. There’s consistency” with the people working on-site under the new owners. “That is confidence.”
Winchester Lofts is just the latest luxury apartment complex in town to change ownership this year. In early November, the 500-unit apartment tower at 360 State St. sold for $160 million. And in June, the 124-unit Liberty apartment building on Temple Street sold for $29.1 million.