Weidner Apartment Homes continues its heady buying spree in the Twin Cities.
Last week, the Washington-based company paid $13.2 million for the Lofts at Farmers Market in the Lowertown area of St. Paul — it was Weidner's 12th acquisition in the Twin Cities.
The seller was the St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority, which built the 57-unit, market-rate apartment building in 2012. The deal closed Monday.
The five-story, mixed-use building is located among the historic warehouse buildings of Lowertown. It has a Big River Pizza restaurant on the first floor and is across from the St. Paul Farmers Market in a bustling neighborhood just a couple blocks from the new St. Paul Saints stadium, a Green Line train stop and several bars and restaurants.
The city became involved with the project during the recession in 2009 after a developer's plans to build loft-style apartments above an indoor farmers market fell apart.
Such upscale urban apartment buildings within walking distance to shops and restaurants have become hot commodities among national investors. The city received several offers for the building, which ended up selling for about $232,000 per unit. The deal was brokered by Abe Appert, Keith Collins, Ted Abramson and Laura Hanneman of CBRE's Minneapolis office.
Weidner, based in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, has been pursuing an aggressive national expansion. During the past couple years, the company has acquired a dozen commercial and multifamily properties in the Twin Cities, including an office building in the west metro that's now the company's regional office.
