A 175-unit apartment building in north suburban Chicago sold for $71.3 million, marking the priciest multifamily deal in the area in two years.
A CBRE fund bought the property at 1717 Ridge Avenue in Evanston from Invesco, an Atlanta pension fund adviser, Crain’s reported citing Cook County records. The deal was the biggest in the area since the $89.2 million sale of the 33-unit apartment The Atworth at Mellody Farm in Vernon Hills in December 2019.
Multifamily properties in the Chicago suburbs have been attracting investors as residents seek space and privacy during the pandemic.
“Evanston as a market has experienced extraordinary rent growth due to outsized demand and unique qualities with urban/suburban amenities, proximity to Northwestern University, Lake Michigan and both Metra and CTA train lines,” said Kevin Girard, senior director of JLL, the brokerage hired to sell the property.
The occupancy rate at the eight-story building rose to 97.8 percent in the second quarter, up from 92 percent a year earlier, according to CoStar Group. Asking rents range from about $2,140 to $4310 per month, Realtor.com said.
Invesco bought the property for $70.1 million in 2013, only about $1 million less than what CBRE Fund paid. The deal penciled out to more than $400,000 per unit, which was the highest price per apartment for a major suburban Chicago multifamily property.
The building’s high property tax may have limited gains on the property, the outlet reported. The tax for the building jumped more than 50 percent to about $883,000 in 2021.
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi has been hiking assessments on commercial properties. He says he is correcting the mistakes of his predecessor Joe Berrios.
[Crain’s] – Connie Kim