SB Real Estate Partners Enters Las Vegas Apartment Market With $67M Buy

SB Real Estate Partners has made its foray into the Las Vegas apartment market with the purchase of The Russell Apartments for $67 million. The property is a 241-unit garden-style apartment community in West Las Vegas. It was 98% leased at the time of purchase.

SB Real Estate Partners will execute a value-add business plan on the property with plans to invest an additional $2 million in capital and re-brand the property Portola on Russell. The renovation plans include interior unit upgrades as well as improvements to the common areas and the building exterior.

Located at 9620 W. Russell Road, the property has a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units along with an impressive amenity package that includes a resort-style pool area with a pool-side cabana, barbecue grills, lounge seating areas, a fitness center, dog park, playground, sand volleyball court and a putting green. Once the renovations are complete, the investor expects the property will be competitive with high-quality buildings in the area but at a below-market rents.

Las Vegas has been a top growth market for the last few years, capturing demand from the exodus out of California and other major West Coast markets. During the pandemic, the city captured even more demand by appealing to tech workers in nearby states that had the option to work remotely. The city’s Economic and Urban Development department is leading the campaign, which has been rolled out on Linkedin and a new website called Innovate. The team is targeting employees in Seattle and San Francisco.

The program has not only attracted new residents but also new investment. In addition to SAREP’s entry into the market, Lincoln Property Co. entered the Nevada market last year with the acquisition of the Hughes Airport Center, a 426,000-square-foot, six building industrial complex in the Las Vegas airport submarket. Lincoln Property Co. has been strategically expanding in the desert west region of the US, which includes Arizona, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico. Established investors continue to expand in the market. In October, for example, LaSalle Investment Management acquired Ely at The Curve, a 456-unit apartment community in the Spring Valley suburb of Las Vegas, from The Calida Group for $155.6 million.

On the SBREP deal, Taylor Sims, Carl Sims and Brady Cleary of Cushman & Wakefield’s Multifamily Advisory Group in Las Vegas represented the seller in the transaction.  Chinmay Bhatt, Noam Franklin and Cody Kirkpatrick of Berkadia JV Equity & Structured Capital arranged joint venture equity.