WOOD TARGETS MORE APARTMENTS

November 29, 2012 | 7:00 am ET Staff Reporter

Alta City House may be Wood Partners' latest apartment venture in Denver, but the head of its Denver office vows it won’t be the last. Not by a thousand units.

Wood Partners’ Tim McEntee tells us the multifamily developer has another 1,000 units in store for the Denver metro area next year. That’s on top of the 1,000already announced or begun this year, including Alta Aspen Grove in Littleton and Alta City House, which will break ground this week. And despite all of the announced projects from other competitors, Tim says he doesn’t see the danger of oversupply—yet. What's facilitated the developments has been pent-up demandfrom a lack of supply over the past 10 years, he says. Vacancy rates metrowide have topped 90%, rents have jumped around 8% this year, “and now we’re just starting to get job growth,” Tim adds.

Armed with $62M in financingfrom USAA Real Estate Co, Wood partnered with East West Partners for Alta City House (rendered in what may be Legos above) at 1801 Chestnut St—in the heart of the Union Station redevelopment. Tim tells us the parcel, acquired a handful of years ago, was originally slated for an office tower, but times have changed. After amassing three acres at the site, the partnership moved forward on the five-story, 281-unit apartment community.

Tim says Alta City House will command $2/SF—high-end rents for Denver. But since the project is stick-framedand only five stories, Wood Partners’ basis is cheaper than steel-framed apartment towers. “We think this will be [attractive to] a lot of young professionals right out of school,” he says. (Hint: it could be an iron box, but as long as it has wi-fi, it'll be attractive to recent college grads.) As for future apartments, Tim says Wood is eyeing sites in Greenwood Village, Denver Central, and Arapahoe.