Eight buildings sold for affordable housing

Mo Vaughn’s firm buys Fox Street properties

The company owned by former New York Mets slugger turned real estate developer Mo Vaughn has purchased eight apartment buildings in Longwood with promises to turn them into well-managed, affordable housing for years to come.

Vaughn’s company, Omni New York LLC, paid $33.5 million for the seven buildings on Fox Street and one on Southern Boulevard. They were the object of a hotly-contested bidding war, Shimon Shkury, president of Ariel Property Advisors, which represented the unnamed sellers, told the real estate newsletter Multi-Housing News.

All-told, the buildings house two studios, 87 one-bedroom, 185 two-bedroom, 62 three-bedroom, and 35 four-bedroom apartments, along with one store. The rents of all are subsidized by the federal government under the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 8 program and the rents are regulated by New York State.

The buildings are at 737 Southern Boulevard, 663 Fox Street, 665 Fox Street, 712 Fox Street, 751 Fox Street, 766 Fox Street, 772-774 Fox Street, 775 Fox Street and 784 Fox Street.

Founded by Vaughn and his partner Eugene Schneur in 2004, a year after Vaughn played his last game, Omni New York specializes in rehabilitating run-down properties in poor neighborhoods. In 2010 it bought the notorious “Hunts Point House of Horrors,” a building complex at 621-627 Manida Street, listed by the city as among the worst buildings in all New York. Work there is ongoing.