Despite predictions about an impending softening in multifamily construction, builders and developers continue to expand their market reach and portfolios. Here are some of the more prominent projects and deals announced within the past few weeks:
Crescent Communities is developing a 5.3-acre, 374-unit luxury apartment community called Crescent Westshore in Tampa, Fla. This is the fifth multifamily community that Crescent has started in Florida in the past few years, and the third in Tampa. Crescent Warehouse is expected to open in the summer of 2016.
Boston-based Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation and San Diego-based MG Properties Group have jointly acquired the 768-unit Madison Park Apartments in West Anaheim, Calif. This is the largest property, by units, to be purchased in Southern California since 2013. The seller was Institutional Property Advisors. The price was not disclosed.
The Picerne Group has joined forces with Rockwood Capital and The Muller Company to build ELEVEN10 West, a five-story, 260-unit rental community on 2.76 acres in Orange, Calif. TCA Architects designed the building, which will include 43 studios, 117 one-bedroom apartments and 224,293 rentable sf. ELEVEN10 West is being designed to coincide with the City of Orange’s general plan’s mixed-use vision created in 2010. It will open for leasing in the summer of 2017.
Asset Plus Cos., the nation’s largest privately owned apartment and student housing developer, on March 17 opened Arrabella, a 232-unit luxury rental townhouse community in west Houston. Arrabella features six one- to three-bedroom floor plans. As of early April the building was 15% preleased. However, this could be Asset’s last Houston project for a while: its CEO and chairman, Michael McGrath, told the Houston Business Journal that his company would postpone building new multifamily projects in Houston until oil prices recover.
SWBC Real Estate is developing a 304-unit garden style community in Dallas called Timberview Ranch, which should be completed by the end of next year. Galaxy Builders is the designated GC on this project. Earlier this year, SWBC broke ground on a 300-unit apartment complex within Twin Creeks at Alamo Ranch in Far West San Antonio.
Asbury Park, N.J.-based developer J.G. Petrucci Co. plans to break ground this summer on a 68-unit apartment building at the Chalfont train station in Bucks County, Pa. The developer will raze what had been an institution that housed people with brain injuries. The architect on this project is Minno & Wasko, based in Lambertville, N.J.
Kushner Companies last month closed on a portfolio of 16 buildings scattered throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, N.Y., for which it paid $131.5 million. The sellers, Stone Street Properties and HIG Realty Partners, paid $73 million for that portfolio in 2012, according to the Real Deal. The deal was brokered by Marcus & Millichap.
Downtown Detroit is about to get its first new apartment development in a generation. Village Green, a luxury apartment owner and operation, has received approval to construct Statler City Apartments, for which it plans to break ground in the second quarter of next year and complete by the fourth quarter of 2017. Statler City Apartments will be a mid-rise, mixed-use community with 235 apartments and penthouses. It will be located on Detroit’s Grand Circus Park, near the People Mover line and M1 Rail.
Related Stories
| Dec 7, 2010
Prospects for multifamily sector improve greatly
The multifamily sector is showing signs of a real recovery, with nearly 22,000 new apartment units delivered to the market. Net absorption in the third quarter surged by 94,000 units, dropping the national vacancy rate from 7.8% to 7.1%, one of the largest quarterly drops on record, and rents increased for the second quarter in a row.
| Nov 3, 2010
Senior housing will be affordable, sustainable
Horizons at Morgan Hill, a 49-unit affordable senior housing community in Morgan Hill, Calif., was designed by KTGY Group and developed by Urban Housing Communities. The $21.2 million, three-story building will offer 36 one-bed/bath units (773 sf) and 13 two-bed/bath units (1,025 sf) on a 2.6-acre site.
| Nov 3, 2010
Rotating atriums give Riyadh’s first Hilton an unusual twist
Goettsch Partners, in collaboration with Omrania & Associates (architect of record) and David Wrenn Interiors (interior designer), is serving as design architect for the five-star, 900-key Hilton Riyadh.
| Nov 1, 2010
Sustainable, mixed-income housing to revitalize community
The $41 million Arlington Grove mixed-use development in St. Louis is viewed as a major step in revitalizing the community. Developed by McCormack Baron Salazar with KAI Design & Build (architect, MEP, GC), the project will add 112 new and renovated mixed-income rental units (market rate, low-income, and public housing) totaling 162,000 sf, plus 5,000 sf of commercial/retail space.
| Nov 1, 2010
Vancouver’s former Olympic Village shoots for Gold
The first tenants of the Millennium Water development in Vancouver, B.C., were Olympic athletes competing in the 2010 Winter Games. Now the former Olympic Village, located on a 17-acre brownfield site, is being transformed into a residential neighborhood targeting LEED ND Gold. The buildings are expected to consume 30-70% less energy than comparable structures.
| Oct 13, 2010
Apartment complex will offer affordable green housing
Urban Housing Communities, KTGY Group, and the City of Big Bear Lake (Calif.) Improvement Agency are collaborating on The Crossings at Big Bear Lake, the first apartment complex in the city to offer residents affordable, eco-friendly homes. KTGY designed 28 two-bedroom, two-story townhomes and 14 three-bedroom, single-story flats, averaging 1,100 sf each.
| Oct 13, 2010
Residences bring students, faculty together in the Middle East
A new residence complex is in design for United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain, UAE, near Abu Dhabi. Plans for the 120-acre mixed-use development include 710 clustered townhomes and apartments for students and faculty and common areas for community activities.
| Oct 13, 2010
Community center under way in NYC seeks LEED Platinum
A curving, 550-foot-long glass arcade dubbed the “Wall of Light” is the standout architectural and sustainable feature of the Battery Park City Community Center, a 60,000-sf complex located in a two-tower residential Lower Manhattan complex. Hanrahan Meyers Architects designed the glass arcade to act as a passive energy system, bringing natural light into all interior spaces.
| Oct 12, 2010
The Watch Factory, Waltham, Mass.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards — Gold Award. When the Boston Watch Company opened its factory in 1854 on the banks of the Charles River in Waltham, Mass., the area was far enough away from the dust, dirt, and grime of Boston to safely assemble delicate watch parts.
