Orchard Drive Apartments, 1239 Washington St., Whitehall, PA

WHITEHALL, PA/RUNNEMEDE, NJ—A two-property, 532-unit multi-family portfolio presenting significant value-add and repositioning potential has sold for a combined $33.75 million.

The Gebroe-Hammer Associates brokerage team of executive vice president David Jarvis and vice president Adam Zweibel exclusively represented the seller and procured the buyer, a private investor, in the sale of Orchard Drive Apartments in Whitehall, PA and Presidential Court Apartments in Runnemede, NJ.

“Both properties, which were built in the 1960s and were owned by the seller for 40+ years, appealed to the buyer because they are primed for major capital improvements that will quickly yield high-end competitive market-rate rents,” says Zweibel. “The Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia/South Jersey submarkets are among the region's top MSAs where millennial-aged/executive-level tenant demand continues to trend upward and is expected to do so for quite some time.”

The $18.25 million Orchard Drive Apartments sale involved a total of 264 one- and two-bedroom units ranging from 782 to 1,013 square feet at 1239 Washington St. in Whitehall. The selling entity was Orchard Drive Associates. The community is near the area's leading employers, including the Lehigh Valley and St. Luke's Hospital and Health Networks, Amazon.com, Air Products and Chemicals and the American headquarters for Olympus Corporation.

“Considered a suburb of Allentown, Whitehall is situated in the heart of the Lehigh Valley, the fastest growing and third most-populous region in Pennsylvania behind Philadelphia and Pittsburgh,” says Zweibel. “Whitehall Township also has some of the most expensive real estate in the state and an architectural landscape where approximately one-third of the buildings are small-to-large apartment complexes.”

Like Orchard Drive Apartments, Presidential Courts features a mix of one- and two-bedroom layouts throughout the 268-unit garden-apartment complex. Located at 918 East Clements Bridge Rd., in Runnemede, it is just 11 miles from Philadelphia and has its own stop along the local NJ Transit bus route. Presidential Associates was the selling entity and TNJ Properties was the acquisition entity.

“This submarket is white hot right now and, according to the latest data from April, led the entire Philadelphia apartment market's 28 geographic concentrations in transaction volume over the past 12 months,” says Zweibel.

Both properties have on-site community amenities ranging from off-street parking and laundry facilities to professionally landscaped courtyards and playgrounds.

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Steve Lubetkin

Steve Lubetkin is the New Jersey and Philadelphia editor for GlobeSt.com. He is currently filling in covering Chicago and Midwest markets until a new permanent editor is named. He previously filled in covering Atlanta. Steve’s journalism background includes print and broadcast reporting for NJ news organizations. His audio and video work for GlobeSt.com has been honored by the Garden State Journalists Association, and he has also been recognized for video by the New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He has produced audio podcasts on CRE topics for the NAR Commercial Division and the CCIM Institute. Steve has also served (from August 2017 to March 2018) as national broadcast news correspondent for CEOReport.com, a news website focused on practical advice for senior executives in small- and medium-sized companies. Steve also reports on-camera and covers conferences for NJSpotlight.com, a public policy news coverage website focused on New Jersey government and industry; and for clients of StateBroadcastNews.com, a division of The Lubetkin Media Companies LLC. Steve has been the computer columnist for the Jewish Community Voice of Southern New Jersey, since 1996. Steve is co-author, with Toronto-based podcasting pioneer Donna Papacosta, of the book, The Business of Podcasting: How to Take Your Podcasting Passion from the Personal to the Professional. You can email Steve at [email protected].