A decade after being acquired in foreclosure, 160 of the 222 condo units in Carriage City Plaza have sold for $26.5 million.

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The sale price works out to an average of $165,625 per unit.

Jeff Squires, senior vice president at Kislak Realty in Woodbridge, announced the sale in an email Thursday noting the bank-owned units “are fully leased with no rent control.” The message also boasted of concierge services, rooftop terrace, secure covered parking, and luxury amenities. The announcement did not identify the buyer and the transaction has not yet made its way through property records.

It’s unclear if the 160 units were continuously on the market since 2018, when Kislak first marketed them.

Oct. 13 UPDATE: In a press release by Kislak, the buyer was identified only as being based in New York, with financing by M&T Bank. It also noted the breakdown of units: 45 one-bedroom, 102 two-bedroom, and 13 penthouses.

The 222-unit, 16-story tower was completed in 2008, with about 60 condo units sold individually, per the original plan. After the real estate market collapse brought on by the Great Recession, the remaining 160 units that were unsold went into foreclosure by 2010.

80 E. Milton Ave., LLC acquired the unsold units and hotel and retail space in foreclosure in 2010. The LLC, a subsidiary of a pension fund (LongView ULTRA Construction Loan Investment Fund), then leased the roughly 160 unsold units. Amalgamated Bank is a trustee of the pension fund, which was the original lender for the $65-million project.

The hotel and retail portion of the building sold in January 2017 for $5 million. The hotel, which consists of the first four floors, was renovated and turned into Watt Hotel, which is a part of the Hilton brand.

The per-unit average sale price would be considerably less than sales of other recent rental developments downtown:

• Meridia Water’s Edge, a 108-unit building adjacent to Rahway Public Library, sold in 2016 for $29.328 million — an average $271,556 per unit.
• Park Square was the first prominent building completed as part of recent downtown redevelopment efforts. The two-building, 159-unit complex was acquired by Mack-Cali Realty in 2013 for $46.5 million — an average $292,453 per unit. More recently, the property changed hands again early last year for $34.9 million — an average $219,496 per unit.

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