Taconic partners with ING to buy Bronx apartment complex.

Taconic Investment Partners, in a joint venture with a commingled fund managed by ING Clarion Partners, has purchased the Eastchester Heights apartment complex, a 1,416-unit low-rise, moderate-income development in the Eastchester section of the Bronx, reports Taconic partner Charles Bendit.

The property was purchased for $133 million from a joint-venture partnership between Urban American, L.P. and City Investment Fund. Aaron Jungreis, Jay Davidson and David Berger of GFI Realty Services, Inc. represented the seller.

The sprawling tree-lined apartment complex, with grassy interior courts and a large playground and soccer field, is the second recent middle-income housing acquisition for Taconic. Last September, in a joint venture with Apollo Real Estate Advisors, Taconic bought nearly 1,000 apartments--the remaining unsold units at Fairfield Towers, a 1,152-unit community--in the East New York section of Brooklyn. That joint venture is currently in the midst of a $40 million improvement program in preparation for a new condo offering aimed at middle-income buyers, including current tenants. Eastchester Heights will be maintained as rental housing for middle-income families, according to Ari Shalam. director of acquisitions for Taconic.

"Not so long ago, in the 1990s, this was a very troubled property, and because of that situation, the entire surrounding community was in danger of sliding downhill," Shalam recalled. "But the preceding owners performed a heroic task in restoring the complex, physically and socially, to its current vital state. The entire Eastchester community is now a stable middle-class community on the upswing."

Shalam said Taconic will continue the ongoing renovation of apartments as they become vacant, but plans only modest changes to the overall development, which covers five square blocks. The buildings are attached four- and six-story dwellings. Ample shopping is nearby on Boston and Eastchester Roads, which border the complex.

"From an investment viewpoint, we anticipate that rents will gradually rise as the improving surrounding neighborhood continues to attract larger numbers of stable, working-class families," said the Taconic executive, noting that current rents average near $14 per square foot. "This is an investment in the future of a Bronx community that's been restored to life."

Aaron Jungreis, GFI's president of Investment Sales, commented, "It was an absolute pleasure working with Taconic Investment Partners. The rapid pace in which Taconic operated helped this transaction immensely. They only needed five days of due diligence to put a hard deposit on this property."