NEW YORK CITY — City Urban Realty and Madison Realty Capital have acquired a mixed-use residential and commercial property located at 14-16 Fifth Ave. in Greenwich Village. The partnership purchased the asset for $27.5 million from an undisclosed seller. The five-story, 20,219-square-foot building features 18 residential units, two commercial spaces and 52 feet of frontage along Fifth Avenue. The property also features 43,000 square feet of additional residential development rights. The buyers plan to renovate the existing apartments, lease-up vacant units and explore potential redevelopment options for the property. Additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
WEST CHESTER, PA. — HFF has arranged the sale of Halstead, an apartment and townhome community in West Chester. TGM Associates sold the 198-unit property to Metropolitan Management Corp. for an undisclosed price. Situated on 11 acres at 812 Goshen Road, the property consists of six two-story courtyard buildings containing 48 one-bedroom flats, 109 two-bedroom townhomes and 41 three-bedroom townhomes with flat-style units averaging 770 square feet each and townhomes averaging 1,076 square feet. Community amenities include a newly renovated clubhouse, fitness center and bark park. Mark Thomson, Zac Pierce and Jose Cruz of HFF represented the seller in the transaction.
NEW YORK CITY — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of an apartment building located at 729 Lafayette Ave. in Brooklyn. Bart Zimmerman of the Barcel Group purchased the 17-unit property for $5.4 million. Derek Bestreich, Lucien Sproviero and Steve Reynolds from Marcus & Millichap’s Brooklyn office represented the seller, a limited liability company in the transaction.
How long will the scorching hot multifamily market hold up? The transactional markets continue to be bolstered by low interest rates, as well as an insatiable appetite from both private and institutional equity. I don’t believe the multifamily market will cool off in 2015. Our HFF multifamily team in Philadelphia will soon be shattering price per unit records in both the suburbs and in Center City Philadelphia. Interestingly enough, half of our transactions will be purchased by new buyers, meaning buyers new to our market, new start-up companies, or established funds that are new to the multifamily arena. As is typically the case, attractive debt and abundant equity are fueling the fire. With respect to multifamily debt, it has been encouraging to see some true competition back in the market. We enter 2015 with an extremely robust debt environment wherein the agencies are being forced to compete with regional banks, life companies and CMBS options. Back in October, HFF brokered the sale of Yardley Crossing in Bucks County. This 196-unit, Class B asset, built in the early 1970s, was priced slightly below a 6 percent cap rate and roughly $170,000 per unit, but still commanded 25 tours and 15 offers. …
PORTLAND, ORE. — M&C Properties has acquired the 324-unit Jory Trail at the Grove apartments in Portland for $59 million. The community is located at 8750 Southwest Ash Meadows Road. The property sits adjacent to Interstate 5 in the Wilsonville submarket, which is less than 20 miles south of Downtown Portland. It is situated within the Grove master-planned community. Notable employers in the area include Xerox, Mentor Graphics, Fir Systems and Rockwell Collins. Jory Trail was completed in 2012. It is currently 94 percent leased. Community amenities include walking trails, Wi-Fi access in all units and public spaces, a 24-hour fitness center, pool and sundeck with heated hydrotherapy spa. The seller, a partnership between Holland Partner Group and the Carlyle Group, was represented by HFF’s Ira Virden and Kerry Hughes. HFF also secured a $44.2-million, fixed-rate loan for M&C through Freddie Mac’s (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) CME Program. The securitized loan will be serviced by HFF through its Freddie Mac Program Plus® Seller/Servicer program. The HFF debt placement team was led by Charles Halladay, Tom Wilson, Sebastian Trujillo and Charlie Watson.
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — Virtú Investments has purchased The Eleven Hundred Apartments, a 565-unit apartment community in Sacramento, for a reported $44 million. The garden-style community is located at 1100 Howe Ave., within the city’s Arden Arcade neighborhood. The property was built in 1962. It was 96 percent occupied at the time of sale. Mark Leary and Kyle Suryan of ARA Pacific represented both the buyer and seller, Acacia Capital, in this transaction.
EWING, N.J. — PRC Campus Centers LLC, a member of the PRC Group, is planning to expand its Campus Town at The College of New Jersey in Ewing by adding two residential buildings, which will accommodate 166 additional students. The second phase, which is scheduled to open in fall 2016, will bring an additional 74,000 square feet of one-, two-, and four-bedroom apartments to the existing 278,000-square-foot mixed-use property. The fully furnished apartments offer each student a private bedroom, a private or semi-private bathroom, full kitchen, living room, laundry room and secure access. The mixed-use complex features an 11,400-square-foot student fitness center and a variety of retail tenants, including Panera Bread, Barnes & Noble Bookstore, Piccolo Trattoria, Yummy Sushi, El Mexican Mariachi, Redberry Yogurt and Spencer Savings Bank. Additionally, the expansion will bring PRCs privately funded total investment to approximately $120 million. Campus Town is a public-private partnership between PRC and The College of New Jersey approved under the NJ 2009 Economic Stimulus Act.
NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DEL. — KeyBank Real Estate Capital has secured $24.8 million in Fannie Mae early-rate lock loans for two apartment complexes located in subdivisions of New Castle County. A $20.8 million loan was secured for Hampton Walk, a 366-unit apartment complex located in New Castle Hundred. The property was built in 1952 and renovated in 2008. The financing was used to pay off an existing Fannie Mae loan, which was scheduled to mature in 2018. KeyBank also secured a $4 million loan for Driftwood Club Apartments, a 60-unit apartment complex located in Christiana Hundred. Built in 1966, the property was most recently renovated in 2013. The undisclosed sponsor plans to use the financing for future investment opportunities. Jeannie Johnson of KeyBank’s multifamily team arranged the financing for both properties.
The San Diego multi-housing market is poised for significant growth in 2015. The third quarter of last year recorded 4.5 percent annual rent growth countywide, the highest rent growth numbers seen in more than a decade, according to CBRE Econometric Advisors (CBRE EA). Vacancy, meanthile, remained at 2.7 percent, the lowest level seen since 2007. Countywide average rents are at $1,548, an 8 percent premium over the 2008 peak levels. CBRE EA found that UTC/La Jolla remains the top rental market in the county, with overall rents averaging $1,958. UTC also witnessed the second-highest rent growth in the county last year, at 7.3 percent. UTC/La Jolla solidifies its position as the county’s top rental market due to strong resident demographics, planned infrastructure improvements and the trolley addition, Westfield’s expansion, and the presence of several major employers, as well as the University of San Diego and the biotech cluster of Torrey Pines. Downtown has emerged as San Diego’s hottest development market, with Class A projects now commanding rents of $2,652, or $2.98 per square foot. There were 929 units in four projects added last year, bringing the total inventory in Downtown to 4,840 units in 23 buildings (100-plus+ units, market-rate only). …
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — ARA has brokered the sale of Berkshires on Providence, a 473-unit, Class B apartment community in Charlotte. Berkshires on Providence was built in 1969 and was receiving upgrades to units as they turned over. Community amenities include two swimming pools, two tennis courts, a business center, children’s play area, clubhouse and laundry center. The property was 97 percent occupied at the time of sale. Dean Smith, Blake Okland, Sean Wood and John Heimburger of ARA represented the seller, an affiliate of Boston-based Berkshire Group, in the transaction. The buyer, Charlotte-based Levine Properties, purchased the asset for an undisclosed amount.