The 11 North at White Oak apartments span over 100 buildings near the intersection of Laburnum Avenue and Nine Mile Road. (Mike Platania photo)
After a red hot 2021, the local apartment market’s first big deal of 2022 comes with a whopper of a price tag.
The 11 North at White Oak apartments in Eastern Henrico sold last week for $154.4 million, county records show.
Located at 11 N. Laburnum Ave., the apartment complex includes 1,184 units and spans 109 buildings on 84 acres. The overall price tag is the largest ever paid for a multifamily property in Henrico County and the largest such deal in the region as a whole in recent memory. The cost per-door clocked in at just shy of $130,500.
The new owner is New York-based real estate investment firm AION Partners, which did not respond to a request seeking comment.
Per its website, AION was founded in 2011 and focuses on investing in what it describes as under-capitalized and workforce housing assets to provide returns to its “exclusive investor group.”
11 North joins 33 other properties in AION’s portfolio, most of which are in the Mid-Atlantic region. The deal looks to be its first in the Richmond region.
The seller was an entity tied to Texas-based C-III Capital Partners, which bought the apartments at auction in 2013 for $35.5 million after they fell into foreclosure. They were known as the Seven Gables Apartments at the time.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Jorge Rosa and Anthony Liberto worked the deal.
The 48-year-old apartment complex was most recently assessed by Henrico at $76 million.
Wink Ewing, a broker with Northmarq who’s handled many sizable local apartment deals, said a complex like 11 North with more affordable units fetching a price tag of $154 million is a sign that Richmond is firmly on the radar of institutional investors.
“It’s great to see that kind of pricing and that aggressive bidding is alive and well in that class of property, which is somewhat more affordable,” Ewing said.
He added that it’s also a big deal for that eastern Henrico submarket and the entire Richmond region.
“Eastern Henrico kind of gets overlooked compared to Short Pump and areas in Chesterfield and the city. When it comes to bigger deals, there hasn’t been a ton of deals out there that really point to it being a hotspot for investors to put really big outside capital into it,” Ewing said. “It’s great momentum for Richmond as a whole.”
The 11 North transaction marks the third local apartment sale in the last five months to eclipse a nine-figure price tag. In late December, local firm Levco Management bought the 716-unit Crystal Lakes Apartments in Chesterfield for $106 million. The highest per-door mark the region’s ever seen was set in October by Capital Square, which bought the Flats at West Broad Village apartments for $111 million, or $327,000 per door.
The 11 North at White Oak apartments span over 100 buildings near the intersection of Laburnum Avenue and Nine Mile Road. (Mike Platania photo)
After a red hot 2021, the local apartment market’s first big deal of 2022 comes with a whopper of a price tag.
The 11 North at White Oak apartments in Eastern Henrico sold last week for $154.4 million, county records show.
Located at 11 N. Laburnum Ave., the apartment complex includes 1,184 units and spans 109 buildings on 84 acres. The overall price tag is the largest ever paid for a multifamily property in Henrico County and the largest such deal in the region as a whole in recent memory. The cost per-door clocked in at just shy of $130,500.
The new owner is New York-based real estate investment firm AION Partners, which did not respond to a request seeking comment.
Per its website, AION was founded in 2011 and focuses on investing in what it describes as under-capitalized and workforce housing assets to provide returns to its “exclusive investor group.”
11 North joins 33 other properties in AION’s portfolio, most of which are in the Mid-Atlantic region. The deal looks to be its first in the Richmond region.
The seller was an entity tied to Texas-based C-III Capital Partners, which bought the apartments at auction in 2013 for $35.5 million after they fell into foreclosure. They were known as the Seven Gables Apartments at the time.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Jorge Rosa and Anthony Liberto worked the deal.
The 48-year-old apartment complex was most recently assessed by Henrico at $76 million.
Wink Ewing, a broker with Northmarq who’s handled many sizable local apartment deals, said a complex like 11 North with more affordable units fetching a price tag of $154 million is a sign that Richmond is firmly on the radar of institutional investors.
“It’s great to see that kind of pricing and that aggressive bidding is alive and well in that class of property, which is somewhat more affordable,” Ewing said.
He added that it’s also a big deal for that eastern Henrico submarket and the entire Richmond region.
“Eastern Henrico kind of gets overlooked compared to Short Pump and areas in Chesterfield and the city. When it comes to bigger deals, there hasn’t been a ton of deals out there that really point to it being a hotspot for investors to put really big outside capital into it,” Ewing said. “It’s great momentum for Richmond as a whole.”
The 11 North transaction marks the third local apartment sale in the last five months to eclipse a nine-figure price tag. In late December, local firm Levco Management bought the 716-unit Crystal Lakes Apartments in Chesterfield for $106 million. The highest per-door mark the region’s ever seen was set in October by Capital Square, which bought the Flats at West Broad Village apartments for $111 million, or $327,000 per door.
I lived here back when I was young and broke (2009-2010–my first apartment after college without roommates!). The rent was $515 per month for a 2BR. Just over a decade later the rent for the same apartment, per the landlord’s web site, is nearly double ($969). My apartment there was basic and dated, but it was affordable on my then $30k per year income.
I hope that this latest sale doesn’t lead to further displacement of low-income renters – most of my neighbors at the time I lived there were low-wage service workers and at least 90% Black or Latino.
Sadly, I think they just need to tear them down! I use to attend a church that did outreaches there 10 years ago. At that time crime was horrible and I can only imagine what it is like now. I personally manage several low income properties and know how important they are. However, in this area it is only opening the doors for more crime. I live right down the road, so I know this area very well. I grew up in HS and actually lived in these Apts as a young child and as a young adult on my… Read more »
Good point…these apartments are at least 50 years old by now and aesthetically/structurally probably not worth saving in the eyes of the REIT who’s buying it. The land is far more valuable.
Fortunately I never noticed or was the victim of any crime (at least in the “C” section I lived in) back in those days. Roaches were another story though…
They over paid intentionally. The acres are worth a lot more then the projects built on top of the acres. The residents will be evicted within a year for high end townhomes and apartments!
That would be over $1.8 million per acre – not including the additional demolition & eviction costs. Considering they’ve already rebranded it online, it seems far more likely this is a value-add play.
Lately I have been wondering about how much pressure there is redevelop a lot of areas due to skyrocketing housing values and run away rents. I think zoning itself is holding back a lot of places from getting 6 and 10 story buildings built over the spots were one story and two story buildings currently exist.
The idea suporting this theroy is how large the new buildings are along Board Street after the recent zoning changes.
I’m a resident here and they just sold it right from under us. No notice or anything. They just took the website down and told us that it’s under maintenance. Sooo what are we suppose to do ?
If I were the residents I would have a change.org petition going around about this. It looks as if the residents will suffer at the end. I live on the West End and my apartment is $1700 without dated amenities. Henrico is horrible for middle class and lower class residents.
These apartments are very dated and do not look modern nor do they look what you pay for rent. They are definitely not low-income housing. My son lived there 2 years ago. He really did not experience any issues at all with any violence or crime where he was. But for an old, 2-BR apt., he was paying, with all the extra charges they slap onto the rent, $975 a month. When his lease was up after 1 year, his rent went up to $200 extra dollars if he did not renew the lease for another 12 months and be… Read more »