AvalonBay-Equity Residential Merger Moves $3.35B of NYC Property
No outlet has reported which specific New York buildings are changing hands, or for how much in recorded transfer tax, as the two REITs fold into a single company.
Two filings recorded with the city this month moved $3.35 billion worth of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens apartment buildings between AvalonBay Communities and Equity Residential, the mechanical New York paper trail of the all-stock merger that combined the two national apartment REITs into a single company, Vivmark Residential, this past August.
Why it matters
AvalonBay and Equity Residential signed their merger-of-equals agreement in May 2026, and more than 99 percent of shareholder votes at each company approved it on August 12, 2026, ahead of a scheduled August 17 closing under the new name Vivmark Residential, trading on the NYSE as VMRK. Neither company’s SEC filings break out what happens borough by borough. The two ACRIS real property transfer tax filings this desk pulled are the only public record of which specific New York buildings are being reorganized inside the merged company’s structure, and no outlet has reported the New York-specific scale. A $2,126,354,644 filing recorded September 22 moves 33 lots from Equity Residential to AvalonBay, including 747 2nd Avenue, 238 West 71st Street, 180 Montague Street, 750 Columbus Avenue, 41 West 86th Street and 815 10th Avenue. A second filing for $1,226,506,110, recorded September 21, moves 15 lots the other direction, from AvalonBay to Equity Residential’s operating partnership, ERP Operating Limited Partnership, including 510 West 52nd Street, 100 Willoughby Street, 500 West 53rd Street, 343 Gold Street and 2-01 50th Avenue in Long Island City.
The numbers
The two filings total $3.35 billion in recorded consideration across 48 lots in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, filed within a day of each other in mid-September, roughly a month after the merger’s scheduled close. Under the merger’s terms, each AvalonBay share converted into 2.793 Equity Residential shares, with legacy AvalonBay stockholders ending up with about 51 percent of the combined company and legacy Equity Residential shareholders about 49 percent. The companies’ boards projected $175 million in gross operating synergies and $125 million in run-rate net synergies within 18 months of closing. Both ACRIS filings list the parties “on behalf of public shareholders,” consistent with an internal consolidation of each company’s New York holdings into the merged operating structure rather than a new arm’s-length sale.
What’s next
We will track whether additional ACRIS filings surface naming more of the “+26 more lots” and “+10 more lots” referenced on these two schedules, and whether Vivmark Residential discloses a New York-specific portfolio count in its next SEC filing. For more on how the city’s biggest owners are repositioning, see our full New York market coverage.
On the record
Primary record
- Public recordWe pulled both ACRIS real property transfer tax filings naming AvalonBay and Equity Residential this month and read the legal schedules: 33 lots worth $2,126,354,644 moved from Equity Residential to AvalonBay on a schedule including 747 2nd Avenue, 238 West 71st Street and 180 Montague Street, and a second filing moved 15 lots worth $1,226,506,110 from AvalonBay to Equity Residential's operating partnership, including 510 West 52nd Street, 100 Willoughby Street and 2-01 50th Avenue in Long Island City. That is $3.35 billion and 48 lots of New York apartment buildings changing hands on paper in a single month, a figure no outlet has reported.View the record on a836-acris.nyc.gov
- Equity Residential, SEC Form 8-KAug. 12, 2026: Shareholders of both companies approve the merger
- NYC ACRIS, document 2026091100373001RPTT, $1,226,506,110, AvalonBay Communities to ERP Operating Limited Partnership, 15 lots, recorded September 21, 2026