As apartment rents in the greater Puget Sound region continue to spike, interest in properties from investors continues to build up. King County just saw another transaction complete in Kent, for $108.5 million, or just over $188,300 per unit. The property sold was the Rock Creek Landing apartment complex, located at 1024 N. Central Ave. in Kent. The seller was, Beverly Hills, CA-based Kennedy Wilson, and the buyer was Denver, CO-based Grand Peaks Properties.
According to public records, the sale closed on June 30, 2017. $432,000 of personal property was deduced in the transaction, for a final taxable selling price of $108,068,000.
“This sale demonstrates our ability to leverage our vertically integrated investment platform to identify undermanaged investments where we can create value through the execution of our asset management program,” said Shem Streeter, Managing Director of Kennedy Wilson Multifamily Investments in a statement. “With an abundance of older multifamily housing stock in our target markets, we look to continue replicating our value-add asset management strategy on new investment opportunities.”
Rock Creek Landing has 576 units. It was constructed in 1986, and it offers a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in the community. The apartment complex is located on the north part of Kent, in close proximity to Washington State Route 167 and near the city’s downtown neighborhood.
The complex offers a number of amenities, like a pool, a playground, a business center and clubhouse. According to apartments.com, there are six units available for rent, although there is no indication how up-to-date that information is. The same web site states that one-bedroom apartments range from $1,113 – $1,687, two-bedroom apartments range from $1,326 – $1,691 and three-bedroom apartments range from $1,832 – $2,481.
According to its web site, Grand Peaks Properties manages, acquires and develops apartment communities in Colorado, Florida, Oregon, Texas and Washington. This is the only property the company owns in the state of Washington.
The company has been focusing on targeting core markets that have been historically profitable for development, construction and acquisition of properties. They also seek locations that can demonstrate above average population growth, strong employment characteristics, and consistent and sizable institutional investment demand, according to its web site.
Apartment industry reports are showing rents in the greater Puget Sound region continuing to increase. Seattle-based Apartment Insights, an industry research organization that tracks apartment rental data in the region, tracks rents surging 4.6 percent in the second quarter of 2017 compared to the first quarter of 2017. Over the last year, that increase was at 7.6 percent. According to the report, the average rent across King and Snohomish county for apartment properties over 50 units is $1,667, which is the first time average rents exceeded $2 per square foot; they’re at $2.01 per square foot. At the same time, vacancy has dropped from 4.66 percent in the first quarter to 4.22 percent in the second quarter, and landlord incentives have shrunk by half from an average of $13 per unit to about $7 per unit.
There are currently 23,572 units under construction, according to the repot. This is about the same as the first quarter of 2017 and 272 units more than a year ago. Fifty-eight percent of these are in the city of Seattle, 24 percent on the Eastside, 9 percent in south King county, and 9 percent in Snohomish county.
There are 11,660 units that have either been built or are under construction for completion in 2017, states the report.
