Prospect Acquisitions Expands Off-Market Multifamily Strategy in Manhattan and Brooklyn

Prospect Acquisitions recently bought 129 West 85th Street, a 10-unit free-market multifamily building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, in a transaction that never reached the open market. According to Commercial Observer, the deal reflects the New York-based firm’s focus on sourcing opportunities through owner relationships and direct outreach rather than widely marketed sales processes.

Founded by Ilya Tolmasov and Danny Arnel, Prospect Acquisitions concentrates on off-market multifamily and mixed-use properties in prime Manhattan and Brooklyn neighborhoods. The firm’s strategy centers on finding assets before they are broadly exposed to investors, with an emphasis on long-term relationship building, repeated owner contact and pursuing transactions that may take months or even years to materialize.

The company says that approach is especially relevant in New York City, where some of the most attractive opportunities may sit inside long-held family ownership structures, overlooked buildings or properties whose potential is not yet fully recognized.

Key Details

• Buyer: Prospect Acquisitions.
• Seller: Not disclosed in the source.
• Property: 129 West 85th Street, described as a 10-unit free-market multifamily building on the Upper West Side.
• Marketing process: The property was not formally marketed, did not go through a bidding war and was not broadly shown to investors, according to the source.
• Geographic focus: Prime neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
• Investment approach: Prospect targets well-located assets where it can renovate, raise rents in free-market units and improve operating inefficiencies.
• Historical playbook: In its earlier years, the firm acquired distressed properties including bank-owned foreclosures, underperforming buildings and assets that needed substantial rehabilitation.
• Track record cited: The source says that strategy helped Prospect acquire, renovate and stabilize more than 40 buildings.
• Fundraising: In 2024, the firm launched a $100 million fund focused on value-add multifamily and mixed-use acquisitions across prime Manhattan and Brooklyn. The source says the initial raise was oversubscribed and that an additional funding round is now being opened.

Why It Matters

Prospect’s strategy highlights a familiar theme in urban investment markets: firms often try to create an edge by sourcing deals before they become competitive auctions. In a city like New York, that can mean spending significant time cultivating owner relationships and underwriting buildings that other buyers may overlook because of operational complexity or deferred maintenance.

The source also places the firm’s latest push in the context of higher interest rates, tighter lending conditions and rising regulatory pressure on New York City owners. Prospect’s view is that those pressures may create new openings for value-add buyers that are prepared to work through complexity and focus on what a property can become over time, rather than only on its current condition.