Mo Vaughn’s Omni sells huge affordable housing portfolio to Nuveen

Mo Vaughn’s Omni Holding Company is selling a 12,000-unit affordable housing portfolio to Nuveen.

The company, co-founded by the former Major League Baseball slugger, is selling almost its entire affordable housing portfolio — consisting of large rentals across the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens — to the asset manager, according to the Wall Street Journal. The portfolio also includes properties in Maryland, Massachusetts, Texas and other states. 

The deal is one of the largest of the year and comes at a time when big-ticket real estate trades are few and far between, slowed by elevated interest rates, decelerating rent growth and growing difficulty around debt financing. 

Nuveen, an affiliate of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, did not disclose the price of the transaction, but said the deal doubles its affordable housing assets under management to $6.4 billion. 

The deal also includes undeveloped land and existing buildings that require repairs, possibly adding an additional 8,000 low-income apartments, the Journal reported. The buildings are primarily government-subsidized where most tenants make less than 60 percent or less of the area median income. 

Vaughn, a former Boston Red Sox and New York Mets first baseman who won the American League’s MVP award in 1995, co-founded Omni with Eugene Schneur in 2004, a year after his final season. The company has since risen as one of the largest players in New York’s affordable housing space.

Jones Lang LaSalle Securities, LLC, an affiliate of JLL Americas, Inc. advised Nuveen on the acquisition of Omni Holding Company. Omni was advised by CBRE Affordable Housing in partnership with CBRE Capital Advisors.

The deal comes as Nuveen Real Estate plans to launch its U.S. Impact Housing Fund, focused on investing in rent-subsidized, income-restricted and “naturally occurring affordable housing,” or NOAH assets.

— Keith Larsen