Colorado Real Estate Journal -
In the early 1980s, Denver-based Simpson Housing developed two apartment communities basically next to each other – Woodstream Village and Dayton Crossing. Both are near East Iliff Avenue and South Parker Road in south Denver. Together, the two communities have 742 units. Woodstream Village, which opened in 1980, has 318 units and Dayton Crossing, which opened a year later, has 324 units. About 10 years ago, members of the Simpson family and others split off from their namesake company and started another company, Grand Peaks Properties. In 2006, according to records, Grand Peaks bought Woodstream Village and Dayton Crossing from their former namesake company, which continues to operate with different owners. “Basically, they were acquired through a 1031 exchange through a fund run by some ex-Simpson Housing investors,” said Nick Simpson, president of Grand Peaks Properties. Recently, Grand Peaks sold both communities for a total of $53.6 million. Dayton Crossing commanded a price just under $28 million and Woodstream Village sold for $25.6 million. The buyer was ColRich, based in San Diego. The transaction was handled by Pat Stucker and Jeff Haag of Cushman & Wakefield of Colorado Inc. “Fortunately, we were given the opportunity to broker these two communities on behalf of Grand Peaks,” Stucker said. Stucker said the transactions were a good deal for both Grand Peaks and ColRich. “It gives the seller the opportunity to place equity in newer product and in different markets and gives the buyer additional value-add opportunities in Denver,” Stucker said. He said ColRich is an excellent operator and a company that “has been in and out of Denver for generations.” ColRich, which has been on a recent buying spree in the Denver metro area, sees a lot of opportunity here, especially when it compares the low cap rates that California properties are commanding, Stucker said. “Cap rates are a bargain in Denver, compared with what you are seeing in California,” Stucker said. “A lot of California investors are finding Denver a more attractive place to deploy their money than California.” During the past year, ColRich, in addition to its recent purchases, has acquired 900 units in three Denver-area communities for almost $90 million. It paid $40.85 million for the 358-unit Alta Springs, $33.2 million for the 312-unit Greenwood Point and $15.9 million for the 230-unit Peachtree. Simpson said given the high value of apartments in Denver right now, the sale was a good opportunity to deploy the money into newer product outside of Colorado. “It’s hard to say where” it will be buying newer apartment communities, he said. “We do think Denver is a pretty heated market right now and there might be better opportunities for us to invest outside of Colorado,” Simpson said. Yet, he remains bullish on the Denver-area apartment market. “The Denver market is very strong,” Simpson said. “It is showing excellent rent growth. In some of our communities we are seeing upward of 9 percent rental rate growth.” Despite the sale of Dayton Crossing and Woodstream Village, Grand Peaks remains a major owner in the Denver area. “In the Denver area, we still have a couple thousand units,” he said. The units are in about 10 different communities. In addition to Colorado, other states where Grand Peak owns apartment communities include Oregon, Florida, Texas and Washington, according to its website.