Centerspace, an apartment owner and operator with about 13,000 units, is exploring options to boost its financial performance, including a potential sale.

The company confirmed that its board of trustees initiated a review of its strategic alternatives earlier this fall.

"The Board will consider a wide range of options including, among other things, a sale, merger and other business combinations, as well as continuing to execute on its independent business strategy," Centerspace said in a press release.

Discussions are in early stages, and the company could decide not to sell, a source familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

There is no timetable for the review process. Centerspace said it won't provide any updates on the review unless they are "appropriate or required by law."

Centerspace has a portfolio of units across 68 apartment communities in Minneapolis, Denver, Salt Lake City, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana.

The firm cut its 2025 earnings forecast at the end of the third quarter, lowering its expected diluted earnings per share to between $1.97 and $2.19 from a previous range of $2.50 to $2.76.

Reviews of strategic alternatives have been popular this year, and a trio of REITs began the same process a few months ago. Paramount Group, Franklin Street Properties and Generation Income Properties all announced they would explore strategic alternatives in May.

Paramount Group was eventually sold to Rithm Capital in a $1.6B deal in September, while Franklin Street's and Generation Income's reviews are ongoing.

"The easy part is to announce a strategic alternative. You hire the lawyers, you hire the bankers, you run a process, do the whole thing," Piper Sandler analyst Alexander Goldfarb told Bisnow in May. "The hard part is when you come back and realize that you called everyone around for a date to the prom, and no one returned your call."