Colorado Real Estate Journal -
Appropriately enough, the apartment community was named Regis Place when it was built in 2000. The 127-unit apartment community at 4703 W. 52nd Ave. is about a half-mile from Regis University. “It is the newest apartment building that close to Regis,” and Regis students have always anchored the development, said Terrance Hunt of ARA, who recently sold Regis Place for $16.25 million to Green Leaf Partners of Danville, Calif., with ARA principals Jeff Hawks and Doug Andrews. It has since been renamed Green Leaf @ Regis. The seller was the Bascom Group of Irvine, Calif. Bascom, public records show, paid $10.6 million for it in 2007. That equates to $83,465 per unit, or $80.22 per square foot. Bascom received more than a 53 percent return during its five year hold. “It was just a tremendous purchase,” Hawks said. “Bascom bought it at the right time at the right price. And interest rates have dropped through the floor since that time.” Green Leaf is benefitting from historically low rates. “Bascom had to assume the existing debt on it when they purchased it,” Hunt said. “They had two loans and the combined rate was around 7 percent.” His understanding is that Green Leaf was able to get an interest rate below 4 percent. “They benefitted from today’s market rates,” he said, which are remaining low in part because of the financial turmoil in Europe. “They liked the cash flow and they felt like that as Regis University continues to grow and expand, they would be able to attract more students,” Hunt“ The nursing program, for example, is very strong at Regis,” he said. Green Leaf also was attracted to the neighborhood, he said. “They really liked that it is just north of the Berkeley neighborhood. They believe that it is a great submarket that will benefit as people move north, looking for less expensive alternatives to Berkeley and West Highland.” The mix of units also was appealing. Unlike in today’s market, the community was built with a preponderance of three-bedroom and four-bedroom apartments. “They basically have a waiting list for the four-bedroom units,” Hunt said. “Those are big enough for people with families, who may have lost their house in a foreclosure. The units have 9-foot ceilings and it has a swimming pool. The property was in very good shape when they bought it, but I think they are going to invest some money on the common areas and the pool area to make it a bit more modern.” One of the more interesting – or perhaps, ironic – aspects of the community is who built it, Hunt said. “It was originally built by two homebuilders who wanted to get into apartment construction. At that time, housing was really hot and apartments were struggling. Everyone was leaving apartments to buy homes. Now, of course, everything has flipped around – apartments are hot and housing is not.”