The rental component of the full-block development known as Morton Square in the Far West Village has been sold by J. D. Carlisle to Equity Residential, the Chicago-based real estate investment trust controlled by Sam Zell for $75 million.

The rental section is contained in a 7-story building at 600 Washington Street and contains 135 apartments of which 99 are studios, 23 are one-bedroom units and 13 are two-bedroom units.

The purchase price amounts to about $516,000 per unit, or $935 per square foot of rentable apartment space and the capitalization rate on the acquisition is about 4.65 percent.

The rental building also contains 7,900 square feet of retail space.

Morton Square was built in 2004 on the block bounded by Washington, Morton, Leroy and West Streets and is comprised of three buildings with 283 apartments. There are six townhouses and 147 loft condominium units in a 14-story building facing the Hudson River in addition to the rental apartments.

The complex, which was designed by Costas Kondylis & Partners, has a large, landscaped courtyard garden, a garage, a health club and doorman and concierge service.

The site had formerly been owned by the Yellow Freight Trucking Company.

A statement released today by David J. Neithercut, president and CEO of Equity Residential, said that the Washington Street building "is a terrific addition to our New York Portfolio," adding that it is "a high-quality asset located in an area of Manhattan that is very desirable to both renters and condominium buyers and has high barriers to new apartment construction."

Marty McKenna, a spokesperson for Equity Residential, told CityRealty.Com that the company has no plans to convert the rental apartments to condominiums.

Equity Residential now owns six properties in the city with 1,957 apartments. It is the largest publicly traded apartment company in the country and owns 926 properties in 31 states and the District of Columbia with 197,404 apartments.

Ronald A. Solarz and Eric M. Anton, senior managing directors of Eastern Consolidated, Inc., represented the seller.