By Jack Stubbs
There has been no shortage of apartment properties changing hands in Seattle in recent weeks, and another residential property—the Medora Apartments in Seattle’s Roosevelt neighborhood—on Tuesday, March 24th sold for $34.75 million, or approximately $439,873 per unit, according to public records filed with King County. The buyer of the property was Madison Investors LP, a private entity affiliated with Gary Emsiek based in Newport Beach, California and the seller was Seattle-based developer Emerald Bay Equity.
The seller did not respond to calls for comment about the transaction in time for the publishing of this story.
Madison Investors LP’s capture of the Medora Apartments comes a week after the company acquired the 38-unit 4400 Alaska Apartments in West Seattle for $12.54 million from Bellevue-based Isola Homes as part of a 1031 Exchange. Madison Investors was represented in the West Seattle transaction by Giovanni Napoli, Philip Assouad, Ryan Dinius and Sid Warsinske of Kidder Mathews’ Seattle multifamily team.
The 5-story Medora Apartments, located at 6810 Roosevelt Way NE., contains 79 units and was built in 2017. The property offers a mix of studios (which range from 420 to 430 square feet), one-bedroom units (which range from 452 to 773 square feet) and two-bedroom units (which range from 814 to 1,345 square feet), according to the web site for the property. The units feature stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops, custom cabinetry, walk-in closets and outdoor patios.
Located in Roosevelt in north Seattle, the asset is less than one mile from the edge of Green Lake and just 1.5 miles from the University of Washington’s main campus. Additionally, the property is less than half a mile from access to Interstate-5 and one mile from Ravenna Park.
Emerald Bay Equity focuses on the redevelopment of under-utilized real estate properties—urban and residential mixed-use properties and retail and light industrial—along with its investor partners to serve its tenants, neighbors and community, according to the company’s web site. The company has residential properties throughout the Puget Sound region in Puyallup, Seattle, Redmond, Spokane and Sumner, among other locations. Some of the company’s other properties in Seattle include the 36-unit Eden Hill Apartments in Queen Anne; the 57-unit Seven Hills Apartments; and the 45-unit Sweetbrier Apartments.
Emerald Bay has in recent months received positive news regarding two other mixed-use residential projects in the pipeline. On February 14th, the company saw its 72-unit project—located at 8829 Roosevelt Way NE. in close proximity to the Medora Apartments—approved by the northeast review board at an Early Design Guidance (EDG) meeting. More recently, on April 9th, another 7-story 78-unit development was approved.
