The Station apartments at 4101 Runner Loop in Chester sold for $60.5 million this month. (Image courtesy The Station)
A local development group has landed another eight-figure deal for its latest apartment complex in Chesterfield County.
The Station apartments in Chester sold for $60.5 million in a deal that closed Oct. 17.
With the complex totaling 201 units, the deal comes out to nearly $301,000 per unit.
The five-building complex at 4101 Runner Loop, off Route 10 and across the railroad tracks from the Chester Village Green mixed-use development, was developed by a group led by current and former executives of homebuilder Schell Brothers, including former division president Shane Burnette and current managing partner Nick Wexler.
Details about the buyer of the complex and its 4.5 acres are scant. The purchase was made through a group of LLCs based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The mystery buyer was represented in the deal by locally based Thalhimer Realty Partners, whose Thalhimer Multifamily affiliate will manage the property.
TRP Principal Matthew Raggi declined to identify the buyer, describing them only as an individual.
“The buyer was attracted by the high-quality construction of the project and its A+ location,” Raggi said in an email. “Given the current interest rate environment, the in-place, long-term debt also made the deal very appealing.”
Raggi added: “Shane and Nick did a great job on the development, and the fast pace of the lease-up was a testament to that.”
Burnette said The Station was 99-percent leased at closing. The one-, two- and three-bedroom units range from 650 to 1,300 square feet in size, with monthly rents of $1,500 for a one-bedroom unit upwards of $2,000 for larger units.
Shane Burnette
“The property outperformed even our most aggressive underwriting assumptions,” Burnette said in an email, adding that they used long-term debt through a Virginia Housing loan with a fixed rate over the 35-year length of the loan.
Burnette said it wasn’t the plan to sell the apartments, but economic factors prompted them to reconsider and capitalize on what he called “anomalies in the market.”
“We felt that asset prices were – specifically for Class A stabilized multifamily assets – being priced to a level that we certainly couldn’t justify, which meant we were net sellers as that type of extreme dislocation doesn’t last forever,” he said.
Construction took about 18 months and was completed earlier this year. The property was listed for sale in May with Newmark agents Garrison Gore, Charles Wentworth and Victoria Pickett, who joined the brokerage in January to launch its local operations.
A sale announcement from Newmark said rents increaseed through lease-up, with recent leases reaching rental rates 8 percent above average.
“We had an incredible amount of interest and ultimately agreed to a transaction without waiting on a formal call for offers,” Burnette said.
He said the project finished below its $40 million budget, roughly twice the amount he projected in 2021, when the group’s Chester Owner LLC bought the multiparcel site for $1.33 million. Chesterfield supervisors approved the project in late 2019.
“We had quite a few construction challenges along the way, as we were building at the height of material and labor shortages from COVID,” Burnette said.
The four- and five-story buildings include brick or stone and Hardiplank facades, and amenities include a 4,000-square-foot clubhouse, pool with cabanas, an outdoor fireplace and grilling stations.
The complex is along Chester Road behind the Allen Tire and retail strip at Route 10, and across the railroad tracks from the Chester Village Green mixed-use development. (Image courtesy LoopNet)
Breeden Construction built the apartments, which were designed by Poole & Poole Architecture. Balzer & Associates handled engineering work, and Costa Canavos with Berkadia handled mortgage lending.
The sale follows Burnette and Wexler’s sale last year of Glenmoor Oaks, a 248-unit complex at Magnolia Green that sold for $72 million two years after it was built.
Burnette said they’re on the lookout for their next development opportunity, but taking their time.
“We are looking very hard to find another project. However, we are remaining disciplined, as we are having a really hard time making deals work given the headwinds we are facing for new construction,” he said.
Southpark Mall project scrapped
Meanwhile, Burnette said the group has abandoned its plan for 280 apartments at Southpark Mall in Colonial Heights. While the city’s Planning Commission endorsed the plan early last year, a City Council vote was deferred and ultimately was never taken up.
“Sadly, we are no longer pursuing it,” Burnette said. “While we know it would have been a huge boon to the local market, we just couldn’t get the city behind the project.
“We think it’s incredibly unfortunate as we strongly believe that the area is in desperate need of Class A housing and they needed to ride the wave of a scorching-hot multifamily market in order to build something as high-end as we wanted to go,” he said. “With the multifamily sector cooling, we simply don’t see a viable path for this in the near/mid-term.”
Note: This story has been updated to include the sale price per unit and additional details provided by Newmark after publication.
The Station apartments at 4101 Runner Loop in Chester sold for $60.5 million this month. (Image courtesy The Station)
A local development group has landed another eight-figure deal for its latest apartment complex in Chesterfield County.
The Station apartments in Chester sold for $60.5 million in a deal that closed Oct. 17.
With the complex totaling 201 units, the deal comes out to nearly $301,000 per unit.
The five-building complex at 4101 Runner Loop, off Route 10 and across the railroad tracks from the Chester Village Green mixed-use development, was developed by a group led by current and former executives of homebuilder Schell Brothers, including former division president Shane Burnette and current managing partner Nick Wexler.
Details about the buyer of the complex and its 4.5 acres are scant. The purchase was made through a group of LLCs based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The mystery buyer was represented in the deal by locally based Thalhimer Realty Partners, whose Thalhimer Multifamily affiliate will manage the property.
TRP Principal Matthew Raggi declined to identify the buyer, describing them only as an individual.
“The buyer was attracted by the high-quality construction of the project and its A+ location,” Raggi said in an email. “Given the current interest rate environment, the in-place, long-term debt also made the deal very appealing.”
Raggi added: “Shane and Nick did a great job on the development, and the fast pace of the lease-up was a testament to that.”
Burnette said The Station was 99-percent leased at closing. The one-, two- and three-bedroom units range from 650 to 1,300 square feet in size, with monthly rents of $1,500 for a one-bedroom unit upwards of $2,000 for larger units.
Shane Burnette
“The property outperformed even our most aggressive underwriting assumptions,” Burnette said in an email, adding that they used long-term debt through a Virginia Housing loan with a fixed rate over the 35-year length of the loan.
Burnette said it wasn’t the plan to sell the apartments, but economic factors prompted them to reconsider and capitalize on what he called “anomalies in the market.”
“We felt that asset prices were – specifically for Class A stabilized multifamily assets – being priced to a level that we certainly couldn’t justify, which meant we were net sellers as that type of extreme dislocation doesn’t last forever,” he said.
Construction took about 18 months and was completed earlier this year. The property was listed for sale in May with Newmark agents Garrison Gore, Charles Wentworth and Victoria Pickett, who joined the brokerage in January to launch its local operations.
A sale announcement from Newmark said rents increaseed through lease-up, with recent leases reaching rental rates 8 percent above average.
“We had an incredible amount of interest and ultimately agreed to a transaction without waiting on a formal call for offers,” Burnette said.
He said the project finished below its $40 million budget, roughly twice the amount he projected in 2021, when the group’s Chester Owner LLC bought the multiparcel site for $1.33 million. Chesterfield supervisors approved the project in late 2019.
“We had quite a few construction challenges along the way, as we were building at the height of material and labor shortages from COVID,” Burnette said.
The four- and five-story buildings include brick or stone and Hardiplank facades, and amenities include a 4,000-square-foot clubhouse, pool with cabanas, an outdoor fireplace and grilling stations.
The complex is along Chester Road behind the Allen Tire and retail strip at Route 10, and across the railroad tracks from the Chester Village Green mixed-use development. (Image courtesy LoopNet)
Breeden Construction built the apartments, which were designed by Poole & Poole Architecture. Balzer & Associates handled engineering work, and Costa Canavos with Berkadia handled mortgage lending.
The sale follows Burnette and Wexler’s sale last year of Glenmoor Oaks, a 248-unit complex at Magnolia Green that sold for $72 million two years after it was built.
Burnette said they’re on the lookout for their next development opportunity, but taking their time.
“We are looking very hard to find another project. However, we are remaining disciplined, as we are having a really hard time making deals work given the headwinds we are facing for new construction,” he said.
Southpark Mall project scrapped
Meanwhile, Burnette said the group has abandoned its plan for 280 apartments at Southpark Mall in Colonial Heights. While the city’s Planning Commission endorsed the plan early last year, a City Council vote was deferred and ultimately was never taken up.
“Sadly, we are no longer pursuing it,” Burnette said. “While we know it would have been a huge boon to the local market, we just couldn’t get the city behind the project.
“We think it’s incredibly unfortunate as we strongly believe that the area is in desperate need of Class A housing and they needed to ride the wave of a scorching-hot multifamily market in order to build something as high-end as we wanted to go,” he said. “With the multifamily sector cooling, we simply don’t see a viable path for this in the near/mid-term.”
Note: This story has been updated to include the sale price per unit and additional details provided by Newmark after publication.
That’s a terrific story for Shane and Nick.I’m glad to see them pull it off. It’s not easy to sell those Virginia Housing loan developments because of the penalties inherent with them. Thalhimer bought a nice community.