A White Bear Lake apartment complex has changed hands for about $30 million as the investment appetite for big apartment buildings picks up.
Praedium Group, a real estate investment company in New York, and CAPREIT, a privately held apartment investor based in Rockville, Md., together bought the White Bear Woods Apartments from LaSalle Investment Management in Chicago, CB Richard Ellis said Wednesday. CBRE represented LaSalle in the sale.
The 304-unit complex, at 4776 Centerville Road in White Bear Lake, was built in the 1980s and is considered a Class A property. CAPREIT will take over management of the complex from Plymouth-based Dominium Management Services.
CAPREIT also owns the 206-unit Chasewood Gates apartments in Minnetonka, which it's in the process of selling to a local buyer, said CAPREIT Senior Vice President Ernie Heymann. That deal should close in a few weeks, he said.
In the hard-hit commercial real estate industry, apartment buildings have been recovering faster than other types of properties.
"About a year ago things started really changing," Heymann said.
The price paid for White Bear Woods, about $99,000 a unit, is comparable to prices being paid for other large apartment properties, said Kevin Doyle, vice president of investment sales at Welsh Cos.
In July, Southview Gables Apartments, a 424-unit Class A building in Inver Grove Heights, sold for $40.5 million, or $95,500 a unit.
In August, Valley Creek Apartments, a 402-unit building in Woodbury, sold for $33.4 million, or about $83,000 a unit.
"These prices are just starting to rise again," Doyle said.
Jennifer Bjorhus • 612-673-4683