Mandy’s Buying Spree Tops $16.1M

Affiliates of Mandy Management spent over $16 million in 2019 as the New Haven real estate empire of primarily low-income rental apartments expanded by 70 properties containing 186 different apartments citywide.

According to warranty deeds filed on the city’s land record database over the course of 2019, limited liability companies (or LLCs) associated with the Netz/Mandy Management organization spent a total of $16,127,100 on New Haven residential real estate last year.

The last 12 months also saw holding companies associated with Ocean Management’s Shmuel Aizenberg spend over $6.7 million buying 14 properties containing 70 different apartments; holding companies associated with Paris Realty Group’s Mendy Paris spend over $8.9 million buying 16 properties containing 19 different apartments, with hundreds more apartments potentially in the works; and holding companies associated with Cambridge Realty’s Nick Falker spend $15.3 million buying six properties containing 101 different apartments.

“Every time we buy a property we reaffirm our commitment to the communities in which we invest and participate,” Mandy Management property manager Yudi Gurevitch told the Independent in an email response to questions about his company’s year in purchases. ​“New Haven is our base and our commitment to this city may be our most significant.”

Mandy’s 2019 buying spree exceeded by half-a-million dollars the money it spent on local residential real estate in 2018, when its affiliated companies picked up 87 different properties containing 170 apartments throughout the city.

In a year that saw investors from throughout the state and the country pour their money into New Haven real estate, large-scale local landlords like Mandy, Ocean, Paris, and Cambridge did not top the list of 2019’s largest private real estate transactions in terms of dollars spent or apartments acquired.

That went to the Boston-based Beacon Communities, which picked up 335 affordable and market-rate units in May when it bought the mixed-use Residences at Ninth Square complex for $65,227,264. The White Plains-based Paredim Communities came in second in terms of dollars spent after it bought three luxury High Street apartment buildings containing 87 residential units for a total of $25.15 million in April.

Nevertheless, no investor or landlord, local or out-of-town, rivaled Mandy Management in terms of the breadth and diversity of housing stock acquired — particularly in neighborhoods outside of the market-rate building boom centered downtown, in Wooster Square, and near the Yale New Haven Hospital campuses.

More And More Mandy

A majority of Mandy’s 2019 buys were of single-family homes (23), two-family homes (20), and three-family homes (13).

Mandy-related companies also purchased a 24-unit apartment complex at 1495 Ella T. Grasso Blvd., a trio of apartment houses with six to 11 units each in Newhallville, as well as a Mill River warehouse to hold such property management supplies as spare refrigerators, washing machines, and boilers.

Its acquisitions were concentrated in the city’s lower-income and middle-class residential neighborhoods outside of downtown.

Mandy-affiliated companies spent nearly $2.7 million buying 13 properties containing 45 different residential units in Newhallville.

They spent over $2.3 million buying seven properties containing 16 different residential units in Beaver Hills.

They spent over $984,000 buying 11 properties containing 20 different residential units in the Hill.

They spent over $1 million buying seven properties containing 14 different apartments in Quinnipiac Meadows.

And they spent over $1 million buying five properties containing 13 different apartments in Fair Haven Heights.

Mandy’s average purchase price for its residential acquisitions was just over $216,800. That was around $26,000 more than the average appraisal price of those same properties, which was closer to $180,300.

Click on the map above to view all 2019 residential purchases made by Mandy Management (in blue).

Mandy was founded in 2002 by the Brooklyn-based landlord Menachem Gurevitch, and is currently run out of Beaver Hills. It manages properties for the Netz Group, a real estate private equity firm owned in part by Gurevitch that is chartered in Connecticut, based in New York, and publicly traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

According to a 2018 presentation by Netz Chief Investment Officer Frank Micali, the company owns over $150 million in residential and commercial real estate in Florida, Georgia, New York, and Connecticut, including 332 properties in New Haven. One year later, that latter number has increased by several dozen.

Yudi Gurevitch told the Independent that Mandy employs nearly 100 people in and around New Haven, as well as many more across the country. That staff has experience and expertise in all aspects of residential real estate, he said, from acquisition to leasing to managing to interacting with residents, agencies, case workers, and inspectors.

Gurevitch touted the property management company’s centralization of its maintenance services in a recently acquired Wallace Street warehouse as indicative of the company’s long-term investment in New Haven. 

“Our portfolio in New Haven is diverse,” he wrote. ​“It includes single family, small multi families, larger complexes and some commercial. Though we hold title in many different corporate entities and structures, we are easy to find and maintain a great working relationship with LCI [the city’s anti-blight Livable City Initiative], the Building Department, and other local enforcement agencies.”

He stressed that the company’s real estate holdings stretch citywide, and that the company’s buying strategies do not intentionally target any one neighborhood.

“We sometimes focus on owning properties in close proximity to one another simply for the convenience of managing them together.”

The Fair Rent Commission reduced one Mandy tenant’s rent this year to $0 because of a persistent rodent infestation in his Goffe Street apartment. But top LCI officials testified before the aldermanic Legislation Committee in May that buildings owned by large-scale local landlords like Mandy do not represent a disproportionate number of housing code violations in the city’s private rental market.

That hearing also saw alders from Newhallville and the Hill express passionate if largely anecdotal frustration with ever-expanding corporate landlords neglecting their properties and mistreating their tenants; while a local landlord attorney warned against the anti-Semitism that may motivate singling out Jewish-owned property management companies for unique scrutiny.

“We learn from our mistakes and keep improving our management systems and staff,” Gurevitch told the Independent. ​“Our leasing is now fully digital and completed through our online portal. We have provided permanent housing to veterans and many formerly homeless men women and families. We provide housing to families burned out of their apartments or after other terrible losses. Agencies are now coming to us in times of crisis to provide housing because we have a strong reputation for responsiveness, honesty, quality, and affordability.”

He said the property management company has the staff and experience necessary to adequately look after its ever-expanding real estate holdings.

“Many of our properties are purchased vacant and in a blighted condition and fully renovated before our first tenant steps over the threshold. When we take on an occupied property, there is always a transition period where we don’t quite know all the issues yet. It’s usually those situations, or when communication doesn’t occur between landlord and tenant, that issues are not spotted proactively.

“But, over the last five years, through hard work and trying new products we’ve raised our occupancy rates and decreased evictions and negative interactions with tenants. By having the capital to address maintenance issues, we avoid the horror stories that do often ensnare other rental market participants and small (or new) investors.

“We are one of New Havens highest tax paying property owners. We do not claim the benefit of government tax subsidies like the assessment deferral program or other such subsidies. We do provide many units to residents participating in the Section 8 program and similar programs administered by the state (DSSRAP) and by local nonprofits. But, as I’m sure you’re aware, no one can discriminate against a prospective tenant based on the source of their payment.

“Many of our employees have purchased houses in New Haven, and we always use New Haven based contractors for our needs. We support local business when we buy materials, when we buy services, and in innumerable other ways.”

Ocean, Paris, Cambridge

Mandy wasn’t alone among large-scale local landlords that greatly expanded their New Haven real estate holdings in 2019.

Holding companies affiliated with Ocean Management, which was founded and is owned by Beaver Hills resident Shmuel Aizenberg, spent $6,771,100 buying 14 properties containing 70 apartments citywide. Most of their purchases were in West River, Edgewood, Dwight, and Amity.

Unlike Mandy, Ocean focused its acquisitions on larger apartment complexes — such as the 20-unit building at 1476 Chapel St., the 18-unit building at 80 Sherman Ave., and the 13-unit building at 1303 Chapel St.

That latter property, the historic former home of football founder Walter Camp, does not have any tenants yet. Ocean purchased for $1.2 million the blighted property from a New York-based investor who had secured City Plan Commission approval to convert the building into 13 apartments.

In December, that property caught on fire, the source of which is still being investigated by the city’s fire department.

This year also saw an Ocean-related company acquire the long-shuttered 500 Blake Cafe building as well as a handful of Westville surface lots from the Perrotti family.

Holding companies affiliated with Beaver Hills-based landlord Mendy Paris, meanwhile, spent $8,962,842 picking up 16 properties containing 33 different apartments.

While a handful of those were condos on Oak Ridge Drive in Quinnipiac Meadows and a few two-family homes on Rock Creek Road in Amity, a majority of Paris’s real estate investments in 2019 were in two large prospective market-rate apartment projects.

A Paris-affiliated company bought a Mill River office building at 414 Chapel St. for $4.65 million in September. While Paris received City Plan Commission approval earlier in the year to convert that site into 87 market-rate apartments, the Beaver Hills-based landlord later said that he will hold off on that project for a few years so as to focus his company’s dollars and attentions elsewhere.

That ​“elsewhere” is the sprawling and partially dilapidated office complex at 50 Fitch St., which a Paris-affiliated company purchased for $3.1 million in October. Paris said he and his business partner Sim Levenharz plan on converting that site into 200-plus luxury apartments.

While the Wooster Square-based Cambridge Realty’s acquisitions were concentrated on a single stretch of Dwight Street near the intersection with Edgewood Avenue, the size of that local company’s investment seemed to signal its entrance as another large-scale local landlord in the New Haven rental market.

In February, Cambridge-affiliated companies spent $15.3 million buying an 84-unit apartment complex at 100 Howe St., a two-family house at 61 Edgewood Ave., a three-family house at 65 Edgewood Ave., a six-unit apartment building at 94 Howe St., a six-unit apartment building at 98 Howe St., and a surface parking lot at 104 Howe St.

Later in the year, Falker won site plan approval from the City Plan Commission to build a new six-story, 44-unit apartment complex on that surface lot.

Know Your LLC

On paper, many property transactions take place not between two individuals, but rather between LLCs. Those holding company legal identities protect individual owners from business liabilities, but can also sometimes serve to obscure the identity of the person or people who actually own a property.

Below is a list of the LLCs (in bold) that bought properties in New Haven in 2019, along with the name or names of those companies’ owners. All LLCs are required to register with the Secretary of the State’s office. Click here to access that database to find more information about each company’s owner.

1023 State LLC: Tyler Smith
1303 Chapel NH LLC: Shmuel Aizenberg (Ocean Management)
136 Chatham St LLC: Jagdeep Sekhon
1368 LLC: Chi Hing
141 County LLC: Ariel Mangami, Shalom Dovber
15 Norton LLC: John Errico
16 Edwards LLC: Tara Knight
161 Henry Street LLC: Paracorp Incorporated
172 Dixwell Avenue LLC: Carlton Highsmith
174 Fitch Street LLC: Parnasa Basad 85 Ltd
181 Clifton Street Realty LLC: Eliyahu Mirlis
206 – 208 Dixwell Avenue LLC: Carlton Highsmith
206 – 220 Wallace LLC: Menachem Gurevitch, Netz USA Ltd (Mandy Management)
222 Howard Avenue LLC: Ken Goffstein, Lisa Stolarz
256 Edwards Street LLC: King’s Gate Advisors LLC
28 Read LLC: Hsiu-Ching Lin
29 White Street LLC: Jay Russo, Neil Levin Brook
322 Eagewood LLC: Yevhen Lysyy, Vasyl Ivoniuk
35 Stewart St LLC: Tyler Smith
36 Salem Property Management LLC: Vincent Mauro, Philip Mauro, Matthew Ferrucci
414 Chapel LLC: Mendel Paris, Sim Levenharz
420 Whitney LLC: MOD Equities
429 Middletown Ave LLC: Anthony Beatman
431 Whitney LLC: MOD Equities
44 Harrison LLC: Nicola Carusone, Thomas Cavaliere
46 Fountain LLC: Marc Knight, Robert Bolduc
479 Orange LLC: Alexandra Daum
493 Whitney LLC: Francine Freeman
50 Fitch LLC: Mendel Paris, Sim Levenharz
522 – 528 State Street LLC: Anthony Arnold
542 Chapel LLC: Abraham Meer, Avi Dagan
550 Whitney Avenue LLC: Joel Butterly, David Mainiero
58 Vernon LLC: Alexandra Daum
60 William Street LLC: Nayan Parikh, Dhruvangi Parikh, Manjit Singh
601 Elm Street LLC: Matthew Short
63 Chamberlain LLC: Miguel Cartagena, Haydee Cartagena
640 Prospect LLC: Shmully Hecht
66 Norton LLC: Mark Mehlman
66 William LLC: Alexandra Daum
68 Sheldon LLC: Alexandra Daum
7 University Place LLC: Matthew Short
703 Dixwell LLC: Corey Newton
708 – 710 Orchard Street LLC: Paul Decker, Crystal Snyder
73 Anthony St LLC: Craig Gambardella, Timothy Lyons
80 Sherman NH LLC: Shmuel Aizenberg, Danielle Trivers (Ocean Management)
808 Nostrand LLC: Israel Zaltz
87 Webster Street LLC: Paul McCraven
87 Woolsey St. LLC: Fair Haven Community Clinic
920 Whalley LLC: Isaac Shaer, Shmuel Levitin
981 State Street LLC: Thomas McGwire III
ABCD Ella Grasso LLC: Concord Finance (Mandy Management)
ABCD Properties LLC: Concord Finance (Mandy Management)
ALB Holdings LLC: Anthony Bianco
Alpha Acquisitions LLC: Alex Opuszynski
Alpha Holdings LLC: Tyler Smith
Angel Moran LLC: Santos Lucero, Martha Sanchez
Art CT 770 Land LLC: Schneur Minsky
Ascend Capital 797 LLC: Allen Chen, Jim Cheng
Assets on Paper LLC: Babatunde Adebayo
Astun LLC: Carlota Lopez Lumbierres
Barone Investments LLC: Biagio Barone
BC Ninth Square LLC: Beacon Communities
BCT-042 LLC: Vincent Gojcaj of 2528 Cruger Avenue Corp
Beacon Hill Realty Holdings LLC: Bart Stanco
Becton Group LLC: Chen Chen
Betterhaven LLC: Moe Kyaw, Melissa Thein
BLAM LLC: Esther Grunblatt
Broadway Living LLC: Cambridge Realty
C&R Property Services LLC: Robert Keene
Camelot I LLC: Carol Horsford
Capital Trust LLC: Aaron Smith
Central Ave LLC: Terrence Scott Huebner
Chapel and W. Main LLC: Steven Bernblum, Julie Bernblum
Chapel Street Residences Owner LLC: Hines
City Restorations LLC: Michael Hayes
CMS Realty 2 LLC: Shneor Edelkopf
CMS Realty LLC: Shneor Edelkopf
Connecticut Housing Alliance LLC: David Candelora
Conrad SRL LLC: Radu Radulescu
CS MLK New Haven LLC: Choice Hotels International
D’Angelo Bros LLC: Salvatore D’Angelo, Marc D’Angelo, Paul D’Angelo
DMW Partnership LLC: Menachem Woonteiler, David Woonteiler
E.D. Real Estate Management LLC: Edgar Gonzales
Elm City Acquisitions LLC: Bryant Thomas, Richard Votto
Elm City Parking LLC: Shmully Hecht
Emporio LLC: Albert Annunziata
Falcon Real Estate LLC: Mohammad Ali Shamsil
Field Properties Capital I, LLC: Alexandra Daum
Fortley LLC: Barnett Brodie
Gan Eden Chadash LLC: Mendel Paris, Sarah Paris
Glenstone Asset Management LLC: Christopher Dipreta, Brian Desfosses, Brian Barbosa
Golden Group Investments LLC: Jing Zhou Zheng, Yam Wong
GPG CT LLC: Anthony Bueti, Claudi Bueti
GPG New Haven Yale LLC: Jason Glick, Randy Glick
Greene Street Holdings LLC: Lisa Amato
Gur New Haven II, LLC: Menachem Gurevitch (Mandy Management)
Gury Grippo LLC: Felicia Grippo, Arik Gury
Harbor Road LLC: Mark Fasano
Haven CT LLC: Samantha Lim
Hawk LLC: Chaim Vail, Yakov Borenstein
Hemingway Capital LLC: Daniel Scherban, Joseph Scherban
HIRA 1168 Whalley LLC: Family Dollar
Huckleberry Hill LLC: Katarzyna Davis
IFS Real Estate LLC: BJM Pumps LLC
JD United Properties LLC: Jose DelValle Bueno, Lucia Pallazhco
JH Investments 1 LLC: James Huffman, Deborah Huffman of Hamden
JPAA Chen Services LLC: Jeff Liu
K&S Real Estate LLC: Kimberly Gliha, Shawn Gliha
Klugkatz LLC: Schneur Katz
Lionheart Holdings Group LLC: Menahem Lebenhartz
Lionsze LLC: Chiwai Sze
Locust Home LLC: Owen Barrett
M&D Batim LLC: Menahem Edelkopf
MADCO Properties LLC: Menachem Kalmanson
Magen LLC: Peyman Zadeh
Mar-Tone Properties LLC: Frank D’Amore Sr.
Mayanot LLC: Adam Haston
MDC Holdings LLC: Meir Chen, Avraham Chein
MG1 Venture, LLC: Eric Siegel
Monroe Property LLC: Scott Luntz
MSA Investments LLC: Shneor Edelkopf
Nazy LLC: Munir Ahmed
Netz-TE LLC: Menachem Gurevtich, Tony Marcel Elicha (Mandy Management)
New Haven Community Development LLC: Chaim Vail, Yonah Schwartz, Yakov Borenstein
New Haven Hill LLC: Jonathan Gelbwaks, Ira Checkla
New Haven Land LLC: Sean McCloskey of Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania
New Haven Real Estate Management LLC: Margaret Chustecki
NHCD 2 LLC: Chaim Vail, Yonah Schwartz
NHCD 4 LLC: Yonah Schwartz, Chaim Vail
NHRE LLC: Chaim Azoff, Rachel Forbes
Nnassres Properties LLC: Sara Rivka Ezagui
Nohu LLC: Albert Annunziata
NSP Residential LLC: Elyse Cherry, E. Matthew Gautieri
Nuvention2 LLC: Elizabeth Nega
Ocean Management LLC: Shmuel Aizenberg, Danielle Trivers (Ocean Management)
Par Cambridge LLC: David Parisier
Pendleton Properties LLC: Michael Hayes
Perfect Threading Spa LLC: Debnath Mahato, Swami Mahato
Poplar LLC: Vincent Cusano
Portsea Properties LLC: Alexandra Daum
Pyrenees LLC: Carlota Lopez Lumbierres, Francisco de Borja Atares Miguel
Ramboto LLC: Irit Gordon, Avigdor Gorden
Real Estate Group XII LLC: Menachem Gurevitch, Netz USA Ltd (Mandy Management)
Real Estate Group XIII LLC: Menachem Gurevitch, Netz USA Ltd (Mandy Management)
Real Estate Group XIV LLC: Menachem Gurevitch, Netz USA Ltd (Mandy Management)
Real Estate Investment Holdings LLC: Shmuel Levitin
Real Estate Investment IV LLC: Vasyl Ivoniuk
Real Estate Netz Group XI, LLC: Menachem Gurevitch, Netz USA Ltd (Mandy Management)
Reichman Brodie Real Estate LLC: Barnett Brodie
Rent New Haven LLC: Daniel Scherban, Joseph Scherban
Ritad LLC: Rakeshkumar Patel
River Street Holdings LLC: Donald Wilby, William Bussmann, Kenneth Bussmann
S&S Properties CT LLC: Lisa Santoroski, Scott Santoroski
Sahn Del LLC: Shmuel Aizenberg (Ocean Management)
Sap Re Holdings LLC: Shmuel Aizenberg (Ocean Management)
Sherman Chapel Properties LLC: Shmuel Aizenberg, Danielle Trivers (Ocean Management)
Shree Shiva 35 Annex LLC: Santosh Patel, Samtaben Patel
SK Brothers LLC: Konstantin Ziring, Alexander Tsiring
Southern CT Realty LLC: Jenny Qiaoling Li, Liping Fan
SP Capital LLC: Mendel Paris
Sterling State Realty LLC: Simcha Goldberg, Mala Feldstein
Store Master Funding XII LLC: Christopher Volk, Catherine Long, Mary Fedewa
Sublime Realty LLC: Avi Dagan, Abraham Meer
Sun Capital Investment LLC: Linda Lin, James Sun
Superdeal Roofing & Home Improvement LLC: Victor Castillo
Terrace St LLC: Amit Lakhotia
The Foran Group LLC: Scott Willey, Catherine Jenney, Robert Jenney
The Property Link LLC: Alex Genn
Titan Holdings LLC: Przemyslaw Kaplon
Tramuta Enterprises LLC: Margaret Tramuta
Unit 3 — 196 Crown Street LLC: Soraya Kaoroptham
Urban Properties LLC: Avi Dagan
Vanguard Management LLC: Deepak Dadlani
Varda LLC: Varda Flora Shalom, Moti Davidi
West River Rentals LLC: Robert Kesselman
West Ventures LLC: Jacob Schattner
Worldwide Classic Car Consulting LLC: Christopher Nicotra
ZA Group LLC: Menachem Ezagui

Previous property sale coverage:

• ​“Rt. 34 West” Hotel Site Sold For $2.8M
• Spinnaker Flips Comcast Project For $14.6M
• Sherman Medical Building Sells For $2.7M
• Pike, Mandy Spend $2M+ In Latest Buys
• 200+ Apartments Planned At Empty Eyesore
• Annex Apartments Sold For $3.95M
• Mill River Office Building Sold For $4.65M
• Local Landlords, Albertus Magnus Expand
• Mandy Buys Warehouse For $1.6M
• Pike Collects $890K On Wooster Sq. Sales
• Springside Apartments Sell For $3.2M
• Family Dollar Sells For 1.8M Dollars
• Pike Sells 2 Buildings To Yale For $3.8M
• Mansion Sells For Only $1.45M
• Landlord Tops 340 Units
• High Street Apts Sell For $25M+
• St. Michael’s School Sold, For Apartments
• Ocean Management Acquires Perrotti Westville Properties
• Paris Realty Picks Up 6 Q Meadows Condos
• Landlord Boosts West River Condo Holdings
• $21 Million Changes Hands In 2 Days
• 50 Factory Jobs Coming To Fair Haven
• Brendan Towers Sold For $6M+
• Investors Drop $917K On West Side Condos
• Mandy’s 2018 Buying Spree Nears $13M
• Mandy Empire Buys Up The Block
• Roots Planted In Newhallville
• Latest Sales: Mandy Buying Spree Continues
• Latest Sales: Mandy Expands In City Point
• Latest Sales: East Rock Home Buy Tops $1M
• Latest Deals: Beulah’s 5th Rehab On Block
• Latest Sales: NHR Sheds Small To Focus Big
• Latest Sales: Mandy Buys In Heights
• Home Sale Price Doubles In 13 Years