Two suburban apartment properties come up for sale

Two suburban apartment complexes have come up for sale, adding to a growing list of multifamily properties to hit the market.

Riverwalk at Millennium, a four-building, 375-unit complex at 309 Washington St. in Conshohocken, Pa., is up for sale. It last traded in 2005 when an affiliate of J.P. Morgan bought the property for $87.5 million, which was considered a pretty steep price at the time.

Many know Riverwalk for a fire that erupted at the complex in 2008. The blaze started at a building under construction across from Riverwalk where workers had been using acetylene torches, which ended up igniting some wood and sparking the blaze. The fire jumped from that building to Riverwalk, destroying 180 apartments.

Two buildings affected by the fire at the Riverwalk complex were rebuilt in 2010. The other two structures that make up the community were constructed in 2005 and not harmed by the fire.

Since half of Riverwalk was constructed in 2005 and, though still relatively new, it presents a value-add opportunity for a new owner to come in and update that part of the property with some higher-end finishes with an eye toward bumping up the rents, said Mark Thomson, an investment broker with HFF marketing it.

Riverwalk is 95 percent occupied. Thomson declined to disclose what the property might sell for though some estimates have it trading for around $90 million, which is not much more than what J.P. Morgan bought it for.

Thomson is also marketing Yardley Crossing, a 196-unit development at 1800 Kathy Drive in Yardley, Pa. Most of the units are attached townhouses with just a dozen that are one-bedroom flats. The property was constructed in 1979 and is 95 percent occupied. Fairfield Residential of San Diego, Calif., now owns it and the property could sell as much as $35 million, according to people familiar with the property and that market.

The age of Yardley Crossing makes it a classic value-add opportunity, Thomson said, noting that investors have been seeking out older vintage properties to buy and then fund improvements.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal