Douglas Elliman Grows Management Portfolio

NEW YORK CITY-Two firms in as many days have acted to bolster their multifamily property management capabilities through acquisitions that create synergy with their existing operations. Douglas Elliman Property Management, a unit of residential giant Prudential Douglas Elliman, has acquired Bellmarc Property Management’s residential portfolio, while the more recently formed Gaia Real Estate has set up an in-house management arm by purchasing another company.

Tuesday’s announcement by Douglas Elliman and Belmarc means that Douglas Elliman’s multifamily management portfolio will grow to approximately 300 Manhattan properties and approximately 49,000 apartments, up from its current tally of 250 buildings and 44,000 units, a spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com. She declined to discuss the terms of the acquisition. Among the properties are 15 E. 69th St., 870 Fifth Ave. and CitySpire Center at 150 W. 56th St.

John Janangelo, long-time President of Bellmarc Property Management, will be joining Douglas Elliman Property Management as an EVP. He’ll continue to oversee the affairs of the former Bellmarc managed properties, according to a release.

The spokeswomen was unable to provide details about how large a share of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s overall business the property management arm represents, or whether the parent company is pursuing a long-term strategy to grow this aspect of its business. However, CEO Dottie Herman says in the release that acquiring the Bellmarc management portfolio represented “a wonderful opportunity. In addition to strengthening Douglas Elliman, acquiring the management of these buildings creates new and exciting opportunities for our affiliated brokerage and mortgage businesses.” Neil Binder, principal of Bellmarc, says the deal will enable his company to “focus on enhancing its core business of residential brokerage.”

For Gaia, formed a year ago by partners Amir Yerushalmi, Danny Fishman and Ken Woolley, the acquisition of Vision Group Management fits in with its overall investment strategy of acquiring distressed multifamily properties and bulk purchases of condo units. The eight-year-old Vision will serve as in-house, day-to-day manager of multifamily properties and condominium units acquired by Gaia, while continuing to operate its business of managing individual condo units for more than 300 investors worldwide.

Currently, Vision has over $100 million in income-producing assets under management for individual investors, according to a release. These include corporate housing units throughout Manhattan, and apartments at Parkchester in the Bronx, Greenpoint Lofts in Brooklyn and the Journal Square area of Jersey City.

Gaia, which repositions and disposes of multifamily properties for the benefit of its investors, expects to sign a contract on a 50-unit building on the Upper West Side as well as a 98-unit building in Harlem, the release states. The company is also negotiating a $48-million project in Chelsea as well as several acquisitions in New Jersey and Connecticut.

Along with acquiring Vision, Gaia recently co-founded Park River Properties, a brokerage company which organizes international buyers into purchase groups for new development condo units. The company has already completed two bulk deals in the city and is negotiating several others, the release states. Gaia’s Vision division will manage the Park River units on behalf of the individual buyers.

Yerushalmi, Vision’s president and co-founder, is co-founder and managing partner of Gaia. Ben Friedman, Vision’s other co-founder and its COO for the past eight years, will be joining Gaia as a partner and has been named CEO of Gaia’s new Vision division.