Investors who JVed on apartment acquisitions from '06 to '08 are now free to part ways without leaving equity on the table--or they could stay together another few years (for the sake of the properties, of course) and finally earn that profit they'd pro-forma-ed pre-capital markets bust.

Take institutional investor Henderson Global and operating partner and co-investor The Dermot Co, which just sold the 178-unit Hamilton (210-230 W 107th St) to Orbach Group for a reported $70M. Our source says the real price was actually a bit lower but still a bit of profit for the sellers based on the $60M they paid Millbrook Properties in March '08. It may not be what Henderson was hoping to extract from its first NYC purchase, and with prices back to pre-recession levels and climbing, the partners could choose to stay in the game and make some money. But ya gotta know when to fold 'em, and, according to our source, some institutions are opting to unwind their positions with operating partners and give the money back to investors or play again somewhere else.

Interview with Orbach?