Cedar Wright Gardens at 77 Mary St. in Lodi — Courtesy: Gebroe-Hammer Associates
By Joshua Burd
The longtime owner of a 642-unit garden apartment complex in Bergen County has sold the property for $100 million, in a sale brokered by Gebroe-Hammer Associates.
The brokerage on Tuesday announced the sale of Cedar Wright Gardens, a 642-unit complex at 77 Mary St. in Lodi. Gebroe-Hammer represented the seller, a business identified as Cedar Wright Gardens LP, which has owned the property since 1952, and identified the buyer.
President Ken Uranowitz, Managing Director Joseph Brecher and Executive Vice President Greg Pine handled the assignment on behalf of the Livingston-based brokerage firm.
Cedar Wright Gardens, which sits at the Wood-Ridge border, is a 31-acre community with a mix of one-bedroom units and a high concentration of two-bedroom units. Gebroe-Hammer said the units “are in greatest demand throughout this extremely tight submarket.”
The firm added that the opportunity “garnered tremendous interest due to the property’s location in a well-established transit-friendly neighborhood and repositioning potential associated with area development.”
“Cedar Wright Gardens is a prominent garden-style complex known for its high visibility and distinguished presence within one of the wealthiest and most-densely populated counties in the United States,” Pine said in a prepared statement. “Its strategic location in the Roosevelt/Terhune/Passaic Avenue neighborhood, adjacent to the Westmont redevelopment area, appeals to young, former urbanites who are dominating the area’s tenant pool.”
The neighborhood is undergoing a renaissance associated with its proximity to the former Curtiss-Wright airplane factory redevelopment site, which is about an eighth of a mile away in Wood-Ridge, the firm said. The property has been redeveloped by Somerset Development, under a $400 million project that has paved the way for a pedestrian-friendly town square and new commuter rail station as its focal point.
Brecher said the buyer is planning capital improvements that appeal to the area’s diverse tenant base, “which ranges from hard-working families to established, highly educated business executives.” He added that the introduction of newly constructed multifamily units is having a positive influence on existing garden and low-, mid- and high-rise assets such as Cedar Wright Gardens.
Uranowitz said 2016 “proved to be a year in which original owner/builders and decades-long owners, who never considered selling, took advantage of extremely heated market demand for multifamily product.”
“These industry ‘veterans’ know, from past experience, this is a cyclical business and the curtain may be coming down soon on sub 4 (percent) interest rates,” he said. “Bidding on existing for-sale properties is becoming even more competitive and aggressive as investors continue to seek Class B capital improvement opportunities that offer long-term rent appreciation and a greater return on investment.”
