By Meghan Hall
A slew of apartment deals have closed over the past couple of weeks, signaling that investors are eager to buy up available properties. In a deal that closed on September 1, Los Angeles-based Clarion Partners acquired the 231-unit Citizen & Oake Apartments in Lakewood, Wash., for $60 million, or $259,740 per unit. The seller, based on information from Pierce County public records, was an entity affiliated with Thayer Manca.
The asset is located at 5406 82nd St SW and includes a mix of one-, two- and three bedroom apartments and five different floor plans. Units range in size from about 580 square feet to 1,230 square feet, according to the apartment complex’s website. Units have hard surface floors, upgraded appliances and features such as fireplaces and balconies and patios.
Community amenities include a seasonal outdoor pool, barbecue patio and outdoor seating, fitness center, playground and a resident lounge with a business bar and entertainment center. The asset is managed by Security Properties.
“We are very happy for our investors to have come full circle on this remarkable transformation,” said Joe Manca, Principal at TMR, in a statement. “We’d like to extend a thank you to Greystar, Berkadia and especially our on-site team for executing on such a comprehensive repositioning.”
The community is located in a quieter, less developed part of Lakewood,not far from Meadow Park Golf Course and Clover Park Technical College. The vast majority of surrounding development appears to be residential in nature.
The deal comes as Thayer Manca Residential closed on an Olympia, Wash., asset for $38.5 million, or about $303,150 square feet per unit. Called the Woodbury Apartments, the asset is the third property in the South Puget Sound region for Thayer Manca. The company acquired the 189-unit Callen Apartments in Lacey in 2018 and it originally acquired the Citizen & Oake Apartments in 2016.
Clarion Partners is also no stranger to the Puget Sound, and in recent years purchased a variety of assets region-wide. In April, the company paid $16.65 million for a Bel-Red development site, where plans for a seven-story, 408-unit apartment building are taking shape. The firm has also invested widely in office and industrial, spending $30.3 million to acquire three warehouse spaces in Everett in 2020, and spending $53.5 million in December of 2019 to purchase the Washington Federal Building in downtown Bellevue.
As of this writing, Thayer Manca had not yet returned The Registry’s request for comment.
