AURORA, COLO. — Steadfast Apartment REIT has purchased two apartment communities in the Denver submarket of Aurora for a total of $91 million. The acquisition includes the 304-unit Bella Terra at City Center and the 360-unit Hearthstone at City Center.
The garden-style Bella Terra is located at 15400 E. Evans Ave. It was built in 1980 and is currently 98 percent occupied. The community contains a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom homes that contain an average of 676 square feet and an average rent of $917.
Common-area amenities include a clubhouse, fitness center, swimming pool with spa, business center, outdoor basketball court, playground and a picnic area with barbecue stations.
Hearthstone is located at 932 S. Helena Way. It was built in 1984. The community contains a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments ranging from 720 square feet to 1,501 square feet. Average in-place rents are $1,038. The property also includes a fitness center, swimming pool, business center and a playground with a basketball court.
Both properties will undergo significant interior and exterior renovations. The assets are situated near the Denver Tech Center Business Corridor, Denver’s largest employment hub, which contains more than 40 million square feet of office space.
Notable employers in the area include Samsonite, Molson Coors Brewing Company and United Airlines. This corridor is also home to the 578-acre Life Sciences medical campus that is currently undergoing a $4.3 billion transformation.
The area is also set to receive a local light rail expansion in 2016 that will link Aurora to key regional rail routes between the East and Southeast rail lines.
“Denver and its surrounding cities are experiencing solid economic fundamentals compared to other national cities,” says Ella Neyland, president of Steadfast Apartment REIT. “This includes employment, population growth and renter demand. Strong employment is a key driver in Steadfast’s acquisition strategy, and Denver’s unemployment rate fits into Steadfast’s target markets when acquiring apartment communities.”
Neyland adds that new apartment construction in the Aurora submarket should keep demand healthy for Bella Terra at City Center and Hearthstone at City Center for the foreseeable future.
Irvine, Calif.-based Steadfast Apartment REIT is a public, nontraded REIT that has more than $620 million invested in 17 apartment communities in eight states. This includes three properties in Colorado that total 916 apartment homes. The REIT is sponsored by Steadfast REIT Investments LLC, an affiliate of Steadfast Cos.