By Jack Stubbs
The area of Queen Anne in Seattle—a neighborhood just west of South Lake Union and north of the city’s downtown core—has seen a substantial amount of multifamily investment in recent months, with several assets having changed hands over the last couple of quarters.
And on July 29th, San Francisco-based Calfox Inc., a real estate investment and development company that focuses on residential and commercial properties across the Western U.S., purchased the Broadstone Clarendon Apartments in Lower Queen Anne for $40 million, or roughly $487,804 per unit, King County records show.
The seller of the property was Atlanta, GA-based PGIM Real Estate, a global real estate investment firm that offers its clients real estate equity, debt, and securities investment strategies.
The Broadstone Clarendon Apartments, located at 105 Warren Ave. and 124 Denny Way, is a five-story property that was built in 2017 and contains 82 units, according to the property listing on apartments.com. The property offers a mix of one- and two-bedroom units that range from 464 to 1,070 square feet, with rents of up to $3,700. Some of the community and in-unit amenities at Broadstone Clarendon include controlled-access garage, wood-style flooring and an outdoor dining area.
The integration of the property into the neighborhood of Queen Anne is one of its primary assets, according to apartment.com‘s listing. “Life neither begins nor ends at our doorstep, but allowing yours to thrive on both sides of it is not too much to hope for. Our commitment is exactly that—allowing you to enjoy your time at home in our community, while creating a platform from which to enjoy all the Queen Anne neighborhood has to offer.”
Located between Denny Way and John Street, the property is adjacent to Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood, and is nearby several city attractions including the iconic Space Needle, Seattle Center, Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum, and the Pacific Science Center.
Queen Anne has seen a number of multifamily properties change hands over the last few months. In mid-March 2019, the 29-unit Fifth Avenue Apartments located at 1401 Fifth Ave. N. sold for $10.1 million, or approximately $348,275 per unit, with Top of the 5th LLC acquiring the property from an entity based in Seattle. In early April, The 127-unit Hudson Apartments traded for $38.75 million, with Timberlane Partners selling the property to a a private family with several local real estate holdings.
Also in April, Mercer Island-based Kami Limited Partnership acquired the 69-unit Aire Apartments located at 2572 Gilman Dr. W. for $28 million, or roughly $405,797 per unit, from Arizona-based Gilman Terrace Holdings LLC.
On the development side, there are a handful of apartment properties on the way in Queen Anne that are proceeding through the city’s Design Review process, with several slated for Lower Queen Anne. In January, developer Hycroft Investment Inc. and Johnston Architects LLC received the green light to move forward with the entitlement process for their proposed 95-unit, mixed-use development located at 412 2nd. Ave. West. In April,
Bellevue-based Continental Properties and Seattle-based Grouparchitect received approval from the West Design Review Board for their proposed 114-unit residential development slated for 412 Queen Anne. Ave. North. In late June, Seattle-based property development firm Pastakia + Associates announced the launch of the Zella Apartments, a 128-unit residential apartment property located at 429 2nd Ave West in Seattle’s popular lower Queen Anne neighborhood.
Calfox Inc. owns a number of apartment assets across the West Coast. The company’s recent acquisition of the Broadstone Clarendon property adds to its Puget Sound region portfolio, which also includes the Landes Apartments in Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood; the 91-unit Jasper Apartments in Wedgewood; and the 122-unit Barclay Broadway Apartments in Capitol Hill.
Founded in 1970, PGIM Real Estate is the real estate investment business of PGIM, Inc., the global investment management businesses of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU). PGIM identifies and develops strategies in both established and emerging markets to create opportunity and add value for its investors, according to the company’s web site. PGIM operates in all of the major real estate submarkets including office, retail, residential and industrial, as well as emerging asset classes such as self-storage and senior housing facilities.
