UDR Sells 395 Leonard Street to Urban Pacific Investors

UDR, one of the country’s biggest apartment REITs, took a loss on a Williamsburg rental building that it bought six years ago.

The Colorado-based landlord sold the Leonard Point building at 395 Leonard Street to Urban Pacific Investors for $127.5 million, property records filed with the city Wednesday show.

That’s slightly less than the roughly $132 million the company paid in 2019 when it bought the property from the Rabsky Group.

It’s a mixed sign for the early days of Brooklyn’s 2025 investment sales market, which reached nearly $8 billion in 2024, according to TerraCRG and first reported by Commercial Observer. While transaction activity picked up last year, high interest rates are still impacting prices.

A spokesperson for UDR declined to comment. But in an announcement earlier this month the company said the deal worked out to a high 4 percent cap rate.

“The approximately 5 percent decline in value for Leonard Pointe in the six years UDR owned the property compares to a 15-20 percent decline for Green Street’s New York Metro commercial property price index, suggesting Brooklyn property values have held up better than other sub-markets in NYC,” the announcement stated.

Urban Pacific’s purchase is the firm’s seventh acquisition in the New York metro market, according to its press release on Wednesday.

“Williamsburg has been a submarket of focus for us due to its proximity to Manhattan, vibrant entertainment and lifestyle amenities, and various transportation options,” vice president of investments Matt Lederer said in the statement. “Leonard Pointe reflects our commitment to investing in well-located communities …. We fully expect this investment to be the first of many in our East Coast markets this year and look forward to a productive 2025.”

A JLL team led by Rob Hinckley and Jeffrey Julien negotiated the sale. A spokesperson for the brokers declined to comment.

The purchase price works out to about $678,000 per unit for the 188-unit building, which Rabsky developed in 2014.

Brooklyn investment sales increased 51 percent last year versus 2023, according to TerraCRG data. Meanwhile, 2024’s 1,198 deals in the borough marked a 12 percent increase.

“Dollar volume captures the attention and most of the headlines, but the better indication is the number of transactions,” TerraCRG CEO Dan Marks said. “We’re seeing a 12 percent annual increase, and we expect to see even more transactions going into 2025. And with more transactions, we’ll see a push into higher sales volume numbers.”

UDR, led by CEO Thomas Toomey, has been a buyer as recently as early last year, when it took over a distressed 173-unit apartment building in Downtown Oakland.