Multifamily Sector Fields Another Sale

SOUTH PORTLAND, ME-Maine endured an especially cold winter in 2008, but the completion of yet another multifamily sale continues a sizzling start to the year for apartment property transactions. The latest asset to change hands is Mill Company apartments, a 95-unit complex that Home Properties traded for just over $7 million to a local group, Port Property Management.

The seller is among several national REITs aiming to concentrate their investments in core markets, prompting Home Properties to divest Mill Company apartments at 121 Margaret St. after a 10-year hold. It was a similar reason that recently led Chicago-based Equity Residential to harvest two apartment communities in nearby Yarmouth, explains Cushman & Wakefield Inc. executive director Simon Butler, whose multifamily team negotiated all three deals. “REITs have been strategically exiting a number of tertiary markets,” says Butler, who anticipates more REIT sales will occur in the coming months in Greater Portland.

Butler says the new owners of the South Portland asset will be resuming a renovation program that Home Properties had been undertaking, an effort that has resulted in 40 of the units being upgraded. New kitchens and bathrooms will be part of the overhaul, Butler says. Port Property Management has indicated it will seek to incorporate operational efficiencies into the development.