West Bank Apartments at 181 River Road in Nutley — Courtesy: Gebroe-Hammer Associates
By Joshua Burd
The developer of a 108-unit apartment building in Nutley has sold the property for $19 million, in a newly announced transaction by Gebroe-Hammer Associates.
Brokers with the firm represented the seller, Westbank Apartments LLC/Avalon Apartment LLC, in the off-market deal at 181 River Road. A buyer listed as River Gardens NJ LLC purchased the 58-year-old complex, known as West Bank Apartments, which is minutes from the growing ON3 campus at the former Hoffmann-LaRoche research site.
Gebroe-Hammer Executive Vice President Niko Nicolaou and President Ken Uranowitz completed the transaction.
“An active client of mine contacted me specifically about their interest in purchasing West Bank Apartments, which was not and has never been on the market,” Nicolaou said. “Because of Ken’s 40-plus-year close relationship with the owner, we were able to successfully bring the parties together from offer to closing in less than four months — considering all the logistics, including but not limited to inspections by lenders, the municipality, etc., such a short time period is unheard of in this COVID-19 environment.”
He added that the property was a natural fit for the buyer.
“It aligns nicely with their acquisition requirements, from location, walkability to lifestyle conveniences and historical performance to tenant demographic and future upside potential,” Nicolaou said. “While technically located in the East Essex submarket, its boundaries with Bergen County and Passaic County literally render it at one of the most vital crossroads for the North Jersey metro.”
In a news release, Gebroe-Hammer noted that the complex runs parallel to Route 21, connects directly to Lyndhurst via the Kingsland and Park Avenue overpass and is at the heart of one of the greatest income-growth and highest appreciating neighborhoods in the area. Prism Capital Partners’ ON3 campus is just 2.5 miles away and has attracted tenants such as the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, Seton Hall University’s Graduate College of Nursing and School of Health and Medical Sciences and Quest Diagnostics, among others.
“This corridor is undergoing a transformation like no other in the state with the fully leased ON3 mixed-use redevelopment of the former Hoffmann-LaRoche site,” Nicolaou said. “It is already having positive rippling effects on the existing multifamily housing stock in the immediate and secondary vicinity where it is feeding a highly educated, upper-income tenant pipeline.”
