Arbor Commercial Funding of $5.1M Backs Western MA Apartment Buys

WEST SPRINGFIELD, MA—A Brookline investor has acquired two garden-style apartment properties in western Massachusetts, picking up assets here and in neighboring Holyoke from the same ownership. Irwin Russell Oken’s purchases were backed by financing from Arbor Commercial Funding.

Calls to Arbor were not returned, and efforts to contact Oken were unsuccessful by press deadline. Also unavailable was the seller, John A. Kieffer, whose initial investment was the $2.72 million buy of 507-517 Whitney Ave. in Holyoke in April 2004. Dating to 1974, the three-story, 81-unit building yielded $3.50 million in the trade to Oken. Branded as the Valley View Apartments, the 53,700-sf property sits on a four-acre parcel situated between Interstate 91 and Route 5.

Also coming on line in 1974, the Westwood Court Apartments community at 1583 Riverdale St. in West Springfield sports 131 units in three buildings, the largest of the structures a three-story, 20,800-sf property that dominates the 3.1 acre parcel. Kieffer paid just $600,000 for that asset five years ago next month. The property is near the banks of the Connecticut River and just 1.5 miles from Valley View Apartments.

On the financing end, Arbor delivered $2.80 million on the Holyoke property, and another $2.38 million for Westwood Court. Based in Uniondale, NY, Arbor is the nation’s sixth largest DUS loan participant under the Fannie Mae lending program, and sources say they believe that vehicle was engaged in the Oken acquisitions. Given the firm’s silence, it is unclear what office of Arbor handled those listings. The firm has an established Boston presence via VP John Kelly, who has already completed a half-dozen DUS loans regionally this year.

Sources spoken to could not provide further details regarding the western Massachusetts transactions, or whether Oken has plans for the properties such as capital improvements or expansion.