Buyer Is A Partner In A 2018 Purchase That Stirred Anger In Montclair NJ
REAL ESTATE DEALS
Eagle Rock Apartments in South Nyack has changed hands.
OT South Nyack LLC, a Monsey-based entity, has bought the 72-unit rental complex at 292-302 Piermont Avenue for $19 million. OT South Nyack LLC at 14 Aster Place, a single-family home, is owned by Shimon Rieder and Nicole Friedman, according to the deed. There was no filing for a mortgage at press time.
Eagle Rock Apartments, situated on 3.3 acres, was sold by Eagle Rock Properties, a full-service real estate firm offering investment management, property management and construction management services for rental apartments in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. The property has a full market value of $7.5 million, according the the 2020 Orangetown Assessment Roll. The company has more than 30 residential properties in New Jersey, Connecticut, Long Island and Maryland, as well as one property in Yonkers and in Ossining. Eagle Rock Apartments was the company’s only Rockland County asset.
New owner Rieder’s LinkedIn page says he is CEO of Emerald Equities LLC. “With an education from NYU-Shack Institute of Real Estate combined with my experience at Fieldstone Properties in both the management and acquisitions departments, I have developed a keen understanding of the Real Estate industry,” his page says. “In 2014 I launched Emerald Equities, concentrating on repositioning multifamily assets through operational and capital improvements.”
Rieder is also a co-owner in Oak Tree Properties, a company that triggered a showdown with tenants when it bought a Montclair, NJ building in 2018 and attempted to raise rents and add fees for parking and pets. Residents of the building at 39-41 North Fullerton Avenue called the rent increases of $150 per month “unconscionable” and scoffed at new fees for parking and pets.
The tenants also objected to the destruction of greenery and construction of “unwanted and disruptive” amenities such as outdoor grills and a bocce court in the 67-unit prewar building.
According to several tenants, tensions rose during a discussion of new pet fees of $300 a year, plus $45 monthly for cats and $55 for dogs. Mayor Robert Jackson, addressing owner Yosef Greenberg of Oak Tree Properties, asked if the North Fullerton building was his first in Montclair. He also said to the building’s new owners, “I don’t know where you come from, but this is not how we do things. Maybe in some other part of the world they charge a fee for cats. We don’t do that here in Montclair.'”
Subsequently, the building’s tenants received another notice, this one more welcome: Rent increases would be 6 percent rather than 15 percent, and there would be no pet fees for existing tenants. However, the smaller increase and elimination of pet fees only applied to existing tenants, who had expired leases and were living as month-to-month tenants.
“We’re also open to meeting with our tenants and encourage dialogue,” the owners said. “We have addressed their concerns and are looking forward to a long and healthy relationship.”
Oak Tree Properties also owns residential buildings in Mahwah and Edison.
Rieder was reached by cell phone but did not respond to a request for comment.