MINNEAPOLIS—Weidner Apartment Homes has just purchased 222 Hennepin Apartments, a 286-unit luxury apartment complex in Minneapolis for $109 million. The big price tag, a Minneapolis record, is yet another sign that the region has landed at the top of many investors' wish lists.
CBRE represented the seller, a joint venture between Dallas-based Invesco Real Estate, and local developers Ryan Companies and The Excelsior Group, which finished the project last year. The offering generated national interest from investors, CBRE officials tell GlobeSt.com. And the Twin Cities not only ranks as one of the top markets of any size in the US, it is “tops in secondary markets.”
The reasons are simple. The Twin Cities' economy has boomed since the start of the recovery, sinking its unemployment rate to just 3.3%, the lowest of any large region according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The boom has touched every commercial real estate sector. Office users absorbed nearly 1.5 million square feet in 2014, up from 682,095 square feet in 2013 according to DTZ's most recent market report. Nineteen Fortune 500 companies make their home here and should provide a steady stream of educated, high-income renters for years to come. And its industrial sector has seen 17 consecutive quarters of positive net absorption.
The Kirkland, WA-based Weidner has one new apartment community in the state currently under construction. 222 Hennepin was its eighth Minnesota apartment acquisition in just the last 17 months. However, it was its first foray into the North Loop neighborhood, an emerging community northwest of the central business district attractive to younger renters.
The newly-constructed 222 Hennepin is already 98% occupied. The asset—which includes a 39,904 square-foot Whole Foods on the street level—also offers a long list of amenities and views of downtown and the Mississippi River. The neighborhood has a number of mass transit options, quick access to the Minneapolis skyway system, numerous restaurants, nightlife, recreational opportunities and Target Field, the new home of the Minnesota Twins.
“Minneapolis continues to demonstrate its economic strength and we see opportunity to grow here,” says Greg Cerbana, director of public relations for Weidner. “222 Hennepin offers residents an unparalleled lifestyle in an enviable location; it's a crown jewel community. We are looking forward to many successful years here as the North Loop grows into one of Minneapolis' most vibrant neighborhoods.”
Other developers have responded to the extraordinary demand for high-end apartments in the area. As reported in GlobeSt.com, for example, in 2013 Trammell Crow, one of the most active multifamily developers in the state, broke ground nearby on Junction Flats, a six-story, 240,000 square-foot building with 182 class A luxury apartments. The company finished it last year and recently sold it for $49 million.
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
