DECEMBER 17,2014-JANUARY 6, 2015
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
Loveland-based McWhin-
ney sold a portfolio of Class
A, LEED-certified apartment
properties in a transaction
totaling $170.5 million.
The sale to Inland Real
Estate comprised 855 units in
Loveland and Westminster. It
included:
•LakeVista, a 303-unit com-
munity at 2525 Rocky Moun-
tain Ave. in Loveland. The
property is part of McWhin-
ney’s 3,000-acre mixed-use
Centerra development, which
features restaurants, retail,
a major medical center and
other employers, housing,
trails and open space. Com-
pleted in 2011, the apartments
sit alongside Equalizer Lake.
The property, which offers a
mix of one- to three-bedroom
units, including lofts, sold for
$60.75 million, or $200,495 per
unit.
Lake Vista’s amenities
include gourmet kitchens, 9-
to 14-foot ceilings, a resort-
style clubhousewitha 24-hour
fitness center, 25-meter lap
pool, spa, outdoor dining and
entertainment area, fire pits,
HD movie theater, conference
and dining room, and cov-
ered parking. Units average
915 square feet.
• The Greens at Van de
Water at 2900 Mountain
Lion Drive in Loveland.
Also constructed in 2011,
the community features
252 one- to three-bedroom
apartments with an average
size of 940 sf. The property
sold for $44.5 million, or
$176,587 per sf.
The Greens at Van de
Water offers a movie theater,
putting green, dog park, car
care center, community gar-
den and large clubhouse
with a resort-style pool, fit-
The Greens at Van de Water counts a putting green among its amenities.
by John Rebchook
A Boston-based company
paid almost $100 million for
the Sonoma Resorts at Saddle
Rock I and II, one of the latest
deals that illustrate the strength
of the apartment market near
the Denver Tech Center.
Records show that Eaton
Vance paid $99.87 million for
the 604-unit community at
21904 E. Ontario Drive, just off
Arapahoe Road, in southeast
Aurora.
That equates to $165,356 per
unit.
The sellers were the Bascom
Group of Irvine, California,
and GE Capital Real Estate.
Fairfield Residential origi-
nally built Sonoma Resort as
two separate properties in 2001
and 2002.
Originally, the two adjacent
garden-style Fairfield com-
munities, on a total of 19.45
acres, were called Stonebriar at
Saddle Rock and Greenbriar.
The now-combined property
is about 10 minutes east of the
tech center.
“There was a tremendous
amount of interest in this prop-
erty,” said Denver-based Jor-
dan Robbins, who represented
Bascom in the sale along with
fellowHFF broker Jeff Haag.
HFF real estate analyst Jared
Buffington and Sean Deasy,
an associate director in HFF’s
Irvine’s office, alsowere part of
the selling team.
“I think we received 11 or 12
offers for it,” Robbins said.
“Mostly, they were institu-
tional investors and some local
groups with institutional part-
ners also were interested in
buying it,” Robbins said.
One of the big selling points
was the location and the near-
by demographics, he said.
“The demographics are
huge,” Robbins said.
“It is an
area with
very high
home val-
ues, and
of course,
it is close
to a huge
e mp l o y -
ment cen-
ter, with its
proximity
to the tech
center,” Robbins said.
Few new apartment com-
munities are being constructed
in the immediate area, he said.
“There is very little new
competition within proxim-
ity, resulting in significant
rent growth over the last 12
months, which should contin-
ue for the foreseeable future,”
Robbins said.
Also, the age of the commu-
nity is a sweet spot for inves-
tors, he said.
“Buyers look at product
built in the early 2000s and see
it as a value-add opportunity,”
Robbins said.
That was certainly the case in
this purchase, he said.
“They absolutely bought it
below replacement cost,” Rob-
bins said.
While some of the prospec-
tive buyers had plans in place
to upgrade the entire commu-
nity, he said he thinks the new
owners will upgrade units as
needed.
The community was 97 per-
cent leased at the time of the
sale.
“Bascomdid a very good job
of running it and left it in very
good shape,” he said.
“I think the new group will
do some upgrades, which will
really be driven by the mar-
ket,” Robbins said.
He said Bascom seamlessly
merged the two communities.
Because they began life as
two separate communities, the
combined community has two
fitness centers and two resort-
style clubhouses and pools.
In total, the community
includes 30 two- and three-
story buildings with one-, two-
and three-bedroom units aver-
aging 923 square feet each.
s
Sonoma Resorts at Saddle Rock has two resort-style clubhouses and pools.
Jordan Robbins
Inside
The company that has Peyton
Manning singing is going
to One Lincoln Station
Holland Partner Group plans a
Larimer Square-like feel for a
678-unit apartment community
at Belleview Station
New industrial product is coming
to Northern Colorado following the
sale of a business park that’s been in the
same family for more than half a century
ARA handles the sale of
two apartment properties representing
distinct aspects of the market
CONTENTS
