$82M Deal Continues Wave Of Center City Apartment Sales
A sizable mixed-use apartment complex in Logan Square has traded for well below its 2013 price as transaction activity in Philadelphia’s downtown multifamily sector has ticked up.
L&B Realty Advisors bought the 229-unit Granary at 1901 Callowhill St. from LaSalle Investment Management for $82.4M, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported. The deal equates to $360K per unit.
The price tag is 31% less than builder Pearl Properties sold the complex for shortly after it was completed in 2013. The buyer in that deal, Lowe Enterprises, appears to have transferred ownership to LaSalle in 2018, but no price was recorded, PBJ reported.
The developer spent $66M constructing the building with 20K SF of ground-floor retail space, which is currently occupied by several restaurants and a convenience store.
The sale followed several similar recent sales in Center City.
Last month, Gelfund RE Opportunities bought the 1835 Arch apartment complex for $60M, and the Rittenhouse Row Apartments sold for $23.7M. These came after a partnership including Lionheart Realty Group, Lineage Squared, Avery Cos. and AMS Equities purchased The Drake at 1512 Spruce St. in November.
The per-unit price of those sales were all below the Granary deal at $314K, $296K and $164K, respectively, according to PBJ.
Much of this activity has been framed as investors taking advantage of value-add opportunities.
“We see tremendous potential to enhance value for our tenants and the broader community through strategic capital investments and a strong focus on the resident experience,” Lionheart founder Yehudah Greenberg said of The Drake in a statement last year.
The greater Philadelphia multifamily market had 7.6% vacancy last quarter, which was below the nationwide 9.3% but above the 5.6% seen in the overall Northeast region, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report.
The brokerage found that asking rents in the Philly area sat at $1,857 in Q4, up just 2% year-over-year. That was below the $1,893 nationwide rate and the $2,718 seen in the Northeast.
