Hill Street Snags Denver Apartments for 3% Over 2017 Price

Hill Street Realty has picked up a 200-unit apartment complex near Downtown Denver for $62 million, scarcely more than it sold for seven years ago.

The Los Angeles-based investor bought the Via Denver apartments at 828 North Broadway, in Capitol Hill, the Denver Business Journal reported. The seller was Azure Partners, based in New York.

The deal works out to $310,000 per unit.

Azure bought the seven-story building in 2017 for $60.25 million, or $301,250 per unit. The investor gained 2.9 percent on the property in seven years.

The L-shaped complex, built in 2015, has 200 studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments over a two-story, above-ground parking garage, with a narrow terrace that contains an outdoor pool. It has a bike and pet wash, and a fitness center.

Brokers David Potarf, Dan Woodward, Matt Barnett and Jake Young with Walker & Dunlop represented Azure Partners in the deal.

Potarf listed the property in the spring of 2022 before interest rates went up — doubling the cost of borrowing money and making the property a “tough sell,” he said.

He sank more than 40 hours trying to sell the building as the value of the property steadily tanked.

“I’m thrilled,” Potarf told the Business Journal after the sale. “I made minimum wage on it, but I’m glad it’s over with.”

Hill Street plans to renovate the apartments to keep abreast of other Downtown complexes, Potarf said. The company owns properties in Utah and California, according to its website.

Azure owns apartments in Texas, Illinois, Florida, New York and Virginia.

Recent apartment trades in Denver include the Commons Park West on Platte Street for $145.5 million, or $429,204 per unit, and the sale of Griffis Platform Union Station for $125.5 million, or $437,282 per unit, according to the Business Journal.

— Dana Bartholomew