A luxury apartment building in downtown Minneapolis that's anchored by a Whole Foods store fetched a record price. Kirkland, Wa.-based Weidner Apartment Homes paid $109 million for the project, according to public records. That was a record for a Twin Cities apartment building, following a series of other record prices for Twin Cities rental projects. The building was developed in 2013 by Ryan Cos and the Excelsior Group, which quickly leased up the project and put it on the market. Previous sales records were held by the nearby Nic on Fifth luxury apartment building, a high-rise that sold for more than $100 million last fall, and Junction Flats in the North Loop neighborhood. Public records show that Weidner paid $91.45 million for the apartment portion of the project and $17.55 million for the commercial component, which includes Whole Foods. Weidner owns and manages nearly 40,000 apartment units across the country and Canada, and has been aggressively snapping up projects like 222 Hennepin, which has more than 280 apartments and 20,000 square-feet of retail space, in the Twin Cities. Last fall, for example, Weidner paid more than $78 million for a portfolio of three suburban apartment buildings with 606 apartments.
