Privitera Buys Arlington Apartments for $5.7M

ARLINGTON — Yet another inner-suburban multifamily transaction was finalized this week, and once more it was a familiar face purchasing 17-21 Grove St. and 1160 Massachusetts Ave. for an aggregate $5.7 million, as Philip Privitera of Somerville continues his regional buying spree of apartments by adding another 36 units. South Shore Savings Bank delivered $4.4 million in acquisition financing, having previously backed the investor in a $6.3 million purchase of 48 units in Woburn with a $4.8 million loan. That deal was unveiled by The Real Reporter in its Feb. 24th edition.

In both of those instances, Cornerstone Realty Consultants of Stoneham arranged the loans for Privitera, with South Shore Savings Bank said to have the most competitive rates in separate competitions. Cornerstone’s Paul Natalizio and Brett Pagani are also having a busy 2012, as private and institutional are embracing multifamily product in metropolitan Boston. Record low interest rates and the region’s white-hot multifamily market have driven the activity. Both fully occupied and wellmaintained, the Arlington properties exemplify the fundamentally strong sector. “They are really nice properties,” Natalizio says of the Arlington assets in noting that such listings rarely come available. The location and quality fit the formula for a long-term holder like Privitera, he says, and were of equal interest to the lender. As in the case of the Woburn apartments, South Shore Savings Bank loan officer Marilyn Mannino handled the Arlington financing.

United Multi Family negotiated the sale on behalf of Bates Associates and also procured the buyer. The brokers were Richard Cawley and Jason Braun, whose Braintree-based firm is active in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Each building acquired by Privitera has 18 units, and the capitalization rate at the time of their sale was 5.6 percent with a gross annual income in excess of $480,000.

Those spoken to were unsure how long Bates Associates had held the properties, which are both three story structures and date to the 1960s, with 1160 Massachusetts Ave. constructed in 1965 and 17-21 Grove St. coming on line two years later. Save for one studio, 1160 Massachusetts Ave. offers all one-bedroom units, whereas 17-21 Grove St. features a studio, 13 one-bedroom units and a quartet of two-bedroom apartments. Both buildings have on-site laundry service and off-street parking.