OVERLAND PARK, KAN. — Sierra, an off-price active and outdoor apparel retailer, has opened a 19,374-square-foot store at The Marketplace within Bluhawk, a 277-acre mixed-use development in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park. Sierra is part of the TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods family. Additional recent store openings at the property include Ulta (9,962 square feet), Bath & Body Works (4,651 square feet) and Rack Room Shoes (5,838 square feet). This summer, OHM Fitness will open a 2,106-square-foot studio. Price Brothers is the developer of Bluhawk and AdventHealth Sports Park.
MURRIETA, CALIF. — Bell Partners, on behalf of its Value Add Fund VII investors, has purchased Silverado Apartment Homes, a multifamily community in Murrieta, approximately midway between Los Angeles and San Diego. Realty Center Management sold the asset for $146.5 million. The property will be renamed Bell Murrieta Springs. Completed in 2007, Bell Murrieta Springs offers 492 one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans with an average unit size of 948 square feet. Community amenities include a green belt with a walking trail surrounding the entire property, two pools and a clubhouse. The property also features walking access along a nature preserve to Meadowridge Park, a city-owned park. Kevin Green, Gregory Harris and Joseph Grabiec of Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, represented the seller and procured the buyer in the deal. With this acquisition, Bell Partners owns and/or manages 11 multifamily communities in Southern California totaling more than 3,100 apartments.
SEATTLE — A joint venture between Greystar Real Estate Partners and Provident Resources Group Inc. has received $183 million in tax-exempt bond financing and completed the acquisition of two student housing communities on the University of Washington campus in Seattle. The communities, Nordheim Court and Radford Court, will now be owned by Provident under a ground lease agreement with the university. Greystar will now operate the properties. Built in 2003, Nordheim Court offers 454 beds for upper-division students. The community is set to undergo renovations to residential units and common areas beginning this summer. Radford Court, which was developed in 2000, offers 399 beds for students attending the university with families and staff members. Rents at the property are set below market rates, with 127 apartments designated for those earning up to 50 percent of the area median income. The property also includes a childcare center. These acquisitions are Phase I of the University of Washington’s UH4 plan, which seeks to increase housing and improve housing quality for students. The university plans to develop additional on-campus undergraduate housing utilizing proceeds from this transaction to accommodate enrollment growth and alleviate existing demand. The second phase of UH4 will include the redevelopment of …
SEATTLE — GMD Development and WNC & Associates have closed a deal to begin construction on Victory Northgate, a six-story affordable housing developing in north Seattle. Located at 1000 Northeast Northgate Way, Victory Northgate is slated for completion in April 2026. The community will offer 13 studios, 101 one-bedroom units, 17 two-bedroom units and 51 three-bedroom units, as well as 6,800 square feet of commercial space with 77 underground parking stalls. The 182 affordable apartments are targeted for families earning up to 60 percent of the area median income. The first-floor commercial space is tentatively reserved for a daycare facility run by the YMCA of Greater Seattle. Victory Northgate will meet all mandatory criteria required by the Evergreen Sustainable Development Standard, Washington State’s sustainable building framework. Sustainable features will include Energy Star-rated appliances; high-efficiency mechanical systems, windows and insulation; low-flow plumbing components; LED lighting throughout the property; and 90 percent drought-tolerant landscaping. The deal was structured with 4 percent LIHTC equity, a construction and permanent loan through Citi Community Capital and a $25.5 million soft loan from the City of Seattle. AOF/Pacific Affordable Housing Corp. is participating as the nonprofit co-general partner.
PALM DESERT, CALIF. — CBRE has arranged the sale of Ariana at El Paseo, an apartment building in the Coachella Valley city of Palm Desert. Investment Concepts acquired the asset from 45278 Deep Canyon Road for $14 million, or $222,222 per unit. Eric Chen, Kevin Sin, Blake Torgerson, Dean Zander and Stew Weston of CBRE represented the seller in the deal. Located at 45278 Deep Canyon Road, the 63-unit property features a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom floor plans, averaging 865 square feet. Each unit offers a fully equipped kitchen, vinyl plank flooring, oversized patios and balconies, central air and heating, and large closets. Community amenities include a resort-style pool, onsite laundry facilities, an outdoor lounge and fireplace, a pet play area and barbecue stations.
DENVER — Evans Senior Investments (ESI) has arranged the sale of the Novellus Cherry Creek, an assisted living community in Denver. ESI represented Novellus Living in the transaction. Peaks Healthcare purchased the asset for an undisclosed price. Originally built in 2002, Novellus Cherry Creek comprises 66 assisted living units. The community faced occupancy challenges, with only 36 percent of its units occupied at the time of marketing. In alignment with its broader portfolio strategy, Novellus Living opted to divest its Colorado asset, focusing efforts on its thriving California and Arizona portfolios.
ATLANTA — In order to satisfy long-term affordability commitments, builders and designers of affordable housing must be well educated about the sector’s exacting design and construction rules, which are typically driven by the source of a project’s funding. A panel of construction experts speaking at the InterFace Affordable Housing Southeast conference held Thursday, May 9 at Cobb Galleria Centre shared insights about how their industry is meeting these standards today. The inaugural conference hosted by France Media’s InterFace Conference Group and Southeast Multifamily & Affordable Housing Business drew approximately 170 industry professionals. Energy efficiency, teamwork and accessibility were three themes running through the discussion. Accessibility in multifamily construction refers to features that enable people with disabilities or limited mobility to navigate common areas and individual units comfortably and safely. Many of these building features are required by various laws. “Get your consultants, architects and contractors to help you put the deal together,” advised Ross Haynes, chief executive officer of Roswell, Georgia-based Community Construction Group. The company focuses on construction and renovation of affordable housing projects. “That team is there to understand the code requirements that affect the job, including energy programs and accessibility,” added Haynes. Specific energy-efficiency requirements for affordable housing vary. …
— By Anthony Pappageorge, Managing Director, NorthMarq — The Bay Area multifamily market is showing signs of stabilizing, although there are some persistent challenges present in the market that will impact operations. With 2024 likely to be a period of slower economic growth, there will be a continued emphasis on multifamily property operations. The challenges in the Bay Area rental market have shifted somewhat in recent years. In the period immediately following the pandemic, owners of rental properties were focused on maintaining occupancy levels and rent collections. In the current environment, added pressures surrounding rising property insurance costs and the prospect for additional rent control measures are increasing uncertainty to the Bay Area multifamily market. Occupancy: A Bit Lower than Usual, but Bouncing Back One multifamily property metric where the Bay Area routinely outperforms nearly every other part of the country is occupancy levels. Conditions remain tight at the beginning of 2024, with average occupancies ranging from about 96 percent in the South Bay and San Francisco, to about 94.5 percent in the East Bay. Current occupancies are about 50 basis points lower, on average, than in 2019. This is welcome news to operators who saw rates decline to about 90 …
MILWAUKEE — General contractor Gilbane | Smith has completed a $456 million expansion of the Baird Center in Milwaukee. Originally opened in 1998, the Baird Center is the largest convention center in the state of Wisconsin. Gilbane | Smith completed the project on behalf of Wisconsin Center District, which owns and operates the center. Project partners and city officials celebrated the grand opening Thursday, May 16, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Spanning two blocks, the expansion brings the facility to 1.3 million square feet, doubling the original size of the property. The expansion features a new grand entrance oriented toward the Deer District mixed-use development and extends the exhibition hall, bringing the latter to 300,000 square feet. Additionally, the redevelopment increases the number of meeting rooms from 28 to 52, adds more than 400 enclosed parking spaces and brings the number of loading docks to 22 from the original 16. The project also included the addition of all-gender restrooms, dedicated quiet rooms, lactation spaces, sensory rooms and a rooftop ballroom and terrace. Design firm Henderson Engineers, a division of Henderson Cos., served as the engineer of record on the project, providing audio-video, electrical, energy modeling, fire and life safety, mechanical, plumbing, technology …
DALLAS AND FORT WORTH, TEXAS — JLL has arranged a $108 million loan for the refinancing of a portfolio of 13 self-storage properties totaling 8,952 units in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. New York Life Real Estate Investors provided the five-year, fixed-rate loan, which was structured with interest-only payments and prepayment flexibility early in the term. John Bauman and Jordan Buck of JLL arranged the loan on behalf of the borrower, a joint venture between Houston-based Hines and Trez Capital.