22 July 2010

In the Twin Cities, Apartment Buildings Leading the Pack

Star Tribune

In a commercial real estate market that's still downright scary for most types of properties, including office and industrial, there is emerging one clear winner: apartment buildings.

 
In a commercial real estate market that's still downright scary for most types of properties, including office and industrial, there is emerging one clear winner: apartment buildings.

Lots of capital and potential buyers are chasing after the best buildings and pumping up their values, say industry analysts. And while the number of multifamily sales in the mostly homegrown Twin Cities apartment market has always been low -- a fact even more apparent since the recession began two years ago -- the pace has picked up a bit this year, according to recent data.

One big transaction sticks out among a smattering of smaller deals. The Stadium View Apartments (formerly known as District on Delaware and Melrose Student Suites), a 277-unit student housing apartment complex near the University of Minnesota, changed hands in May for $42 million, putting it among the biggest multifamily transactions in the country for the first quarter.

It compares, for instance, to a $48 million deal for the 159-unit Gardens of Wilshire mixed-use apartment complex in Los Angeles, which attracted 30 suitors, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers' first quarter Korpacz Real Estate Investor Survey.

The apartment complex is big -- it has 956 beds arrayed in four nine-story towers -- with amenities such as a 24-hour movie theater and free tanning beds. The buyer was listed as Blue Vista Capital Partners, a Chicago-based boutique investment firm. Blue Vista's managing principal, Robert Byron, didn't return a call for comment.

The seller's address was that of Los Angeles-based real estate firm Lowe Enterprises.

The sale shows that when it comes to stable, niche-market assets like student housing, at least, there are takers out there, said Josh Floring, a senior associate with the Ackerberg Group and an expert in the U of M-area real estate scene.

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