In a trade that shows just exactly how much apartment valuations have jumped in the last couple of years (and the strength of the Washington market), the Palatine in Arlington, Va., traded again in May for a pricetage of $141.8 million (and a 4.5 percent cap rate), according to New York-based commercial real estate research firm Real Capital Analytics.
New York-based teacher’s retirement fund TIAA-CREF bought the deal, but the real winner may have been Miami-based Crescent Heights Apartments. Known primarily as a condo converter, the company executed a strong buy and flip strategy after securing the property, located in the desirable, transit-oriented Courthouse section of Arlington) for $118 million in Feb. 2010. The 262-unit property is 96 percent occupied.
Though certainly a noteworthy transaction in the hot Washington market, the sale isn’t the only recent example of a 2010 buyer cashing in a year later. In May, Dallas-based Behringer Harvard sold Waterford Place, a 390-unit multifamily community 30 miles outside of San Francisco to an institutional investor for $110 million, according to RCA. Behringer Harvard Multifamily REIT I, Inc. acquired the deal for $79.7 million in September 2009 through a joint venture with PGGM Private Real Estate Fund.
