Ownership clusters identified in NYC deed records. Each groups LLCs by naming patterns and acquisition activity. Public records only.
3 clusters tracked across an 18-month public records window.
Looking for a specific company instead? Search the full ledger of LLC buyers →
These 3 networks account for 195 recorded acquisitions held through 58 separate limited liability companies across 69 NYC ZIP codes. Every one of those numbers comes from deeds filed with the city, so the list ranks measurable buying rather than total holdings: an owner who bought in 1988 and has not transacted since does not appear here at all.
The reason a directory like this needs to exist is that NYC property is almost never held in the owner's own name. It is held one building at a time, each in its own LLC, which is ordinary practice and also why a single operation can appear in the record as thirty unrelated strangers. Reassembling those entities is what turns a deed filing into an answer about who owns the block.
Financial institutions, government bodies, loan servicers taking title in foreclosure and nonprofit HDFCs are classified separately and kept off this list, because a bank completing a foreclosure is not a landlord acquiring a building. Looking for one specific company rather than a network? The full ledger of LLC buyers is searchable by name, and every building has its own ownership page.
By measurable buying activity in the ACRIS deed record, PulseCities tracks 3 ownership networks accounting for 195 acquisitions across 69 ZIP codes. PHANTOM leads the list with 84 acquisitions held through 43 separate LLCs. This ranks by recorded purchasing, not by total units owned: an owner who bought decades ago and has not transacted since will not appear.
Buying each building through its own limited liability company is ordinary practice: it separates liability, simplifies financing and eases resale. The side effect is that a portfolio of 58 entities can read as 58 unrelated owners in the public record. Grouping them back together is the point of this directory.
Entities are clustered where the public record supports it: shared naming stems across numbered siblings, shared filing addresses on the deeds, and overlapping acquisition activity. Financial institutions, government bodies, servicers taking title in foreclosure and nonprofit HDFCs are classified separately and excluded, so a bank that forecloses is never listed as a landlord.
One recorded deed naming that network as the buyer. It counts tax lots, so a condominium purchased whole records one deed per unit and can inflate a raw count. Each profile page shows the buildings behind the number so the figure can be checked rather than taken.