By Jon Peterson
Interest in Puget Sound multifamily assets continues unabated, and investrors from outside of the region are actively looking for opportunities to grow their portfolis wtih properties around Seattle. San Francisco-based Glencrest Group is one of these investors. The company just completed its first apartment acquisition near Seattle with its $17 million ($303,571 per unit) purchase of the 56-unit Lake Meridian Shores apartment complex in Kent located at 14200 272nd Street.
The buyer of the property was represented by The Foundation Group, a real estate brokerage and real estate services company based in Seattle. Those working on the transaction were Isaac Chamberlin, Aaron Locke and Ethan Szmania.
The seller of the property was a local family that has owned the property for some time. Lake Meridian Shores was the only apartment asset the family owned. The family is more active in the manufactured home community sector.
The apartment complex was sold in an off-market transaction. The property, which was first developed in 1984, was 98 percent occupied at the time of the sale. The units in the company are mostly rented by working professionals.
The seller of the property had completed a great deal of interior work to the units in the complex prior to the sale. It is expected, however, that Glencrest Group will still place some additional capital into the property on a number of deferred maintenance issues on the exterior of the building. This work will include landscaping, siding, fixing up the roof and re-painting.
Once this work has been completed, the new owners may be able to generate additional revenue through rent increases. The Kent apartment market is one that is viewed as a lower priced alternative to areas closer in to Seattle. However, Kent has strong market demographics and rents in the region have increased by somewhere around 20 percent to 30 percent over the past several years, according to sources that track the market.
Glencrest will likely hold on to the property in Kent over the next seven to 10 years, as stated by sources aware of the strategic plans of the buyer. Glencrest currently owns seven apartment assets in the Pacific Northwest region, according to the company’s its website. Three of the properties are located in Washington in Battle Ground, Airway Heights and Olympia. It also owns three complexes in Oregon in McMinnville, Keizer and Canby.
