This article originally appeared in the Orange County Business Journal.
September 21, 2020
Recent real estate market uncertainty has not stopped Buchanan Street Partners from continuing its investment swing over the course of 2020.
In the first few months of the year, the Newport Beach-based real estate investment firm closed on nearly $140 million of real estate-related deals, including three commercial acquisitions and two construction loans.
Those deals followed several out-of-town multifamily acquisitions made in recent years, and it appears the company is looking to add more to that portfolio, which has placed a specific focus on Colorado.
Recent Buy
It most recently closed on a 276-unit community in Fort Collins, Colo., from Dallas-based Milestone Development Group.
Buchanan paid $74 million for the property that was built in 2018, or about $268,116 per unit, sources indicate. Fort Collins is about 40 miles north of Denver.
The development, called the Vibe Apartments, includes 12 buildings on 10 acres of land at the south end of Fort Collins, which the company says is the fastest-growing area of the city, with a 60% population growth since 2010.
The project was 93% leased at the time of sale. Buchanan plans “modest operational changes” to “position it as a stabilized core asset to benefit from the positive submarket fundamentals and long-term forecasted growth.”
State Investment
The deal brings the firm’s reported Colorado multifamily investment to $201 million since 2018, with nearly 850 units added in that time frame.
It’s the largest deal in the state for Buchanan since 2018, when it paid $72.5 million for Creekside at Palmer Park, a 328-unit complex that’s 5 miles east of downtown Colorado Springs.
It was the largest apartment sale of the year in that city, Buchanan Street said.
Buchanan Street, led by Chief Executive Tim Ballard, turns 21 this month; the company said it has invested more than $6.9 billion in real estate debt and equity investments since it was founded.
The company’s buying and lending spree at the start of the year included its first Orange County acquisition in six years, acquiring a two-building office property along Bristol Street in Newport Beach for $11.5 million.