The Pennington at 211 Pennington Ave. in Passaic — Courtesy: Cushman & Wakefield
By Joshua Burd
P3 Properties has made a major acquisition in Passaic, adding a 147-unit multifamily property with further development potential in a deal arranged by Cushman & Wakefield.
The brokerage team represented both the buyer and the seller, the Birch Group, in the $49 million transaction at 211 Pennington Ave. That includes the community known as The Pennington, which opened recently after an adaptive reuse of a hospital campus, with the opportunity to expand the unit count by converting the fully vacant 60,000-square-foot South Tower and by building out two significant commercial spaces.
Cushman’s Northeast multifamily advisory group — including Niko Nicolaou, Ryan Dowd, David Bernhaut, Peter Welch, JP Hohl and Alexandria Russo Ebers — spearheaded the deal.
“The Pennington represented a rare opportunity to acquire one of the largest full-block multifamily assets in Passaic — this is a scale and footprint that simply cannot be replicated today,” said Harvey Rosenblatt, founder of P3 Properties. “As a local owner with deep roots in this community, we are uniquely positioned to approach this opportunity with patience and conviction. We understand the neighborhood, the tenant base and the long-term trajectory of Passaic and our goal is to create durable value while enhancing what is already a cornerstone asset for the city.”
The transaction marks a significant expansion of P3’s presence in its home market and its continued focus on acquiring high-quality, value-add residential opportunities with long-term upside, according to a news release. That dovetails with The Pennington’s location within the Passaic Park neighborhood and less than a half-mile from the Passaic train station, which provides a roughly 30-minute ride to New York City.
In conjunction with the sale, Brad Domenico, John Alascio, Chuck Kohaut, Frank Stanislaski, Ethan Thompson and Jack Subers of Cushman’s equity, debt and structured finance team arranged $45.9 million in financing for the acquisition and for capital improvements at the asset. Prime Finance provided the loan with a full-term interest-only structure.
“Passaic County remains one of the strongest multifamily submarkets in the region, with demand consistently outpacing supply,” said Nicolaou, vice chairman and co-head of the Northeast multifamily team. “This transaction underscores continued investor appetite for well-located, transit-oriented assets offering both durable cash flow and meaningful future value creation.”
Completed in 2024, the property has an average unit size of roughly 968 square feet and perks such as two fitness centers, on-site parking and controlled-access security. C&W noted that it also benefits from a long-term payment in lieu of taxes agreement with the city.
“The Pennington is uniquely positioned to benefit from continued multifamily demand as the sponsors execute on the lease-up of existing vacancy and advance plans for the South Tower and commercial components,” said Domenico, a vice chairman with Cushman. “Combining strong in-place performance with a clear runway for income growth made this an exceptional financing opportunity in a supply-constrained market.”
