Inland pays $46.1M for The Preserve at the Meadows apartments in Fort Collins

FORT COLLINS — An Illinois real estate investment firm closed last week on the $46.1 million purchase of The Preserve at the Meadows apartments, marking what is believed to be a per-unit record for non-student apartments in the city of Fort Collins.

The sale price for the 220-unit complex at 350 Riva Ridge Drive in the Midtown area works out to $209,545 per unit. Broker Jake Hallauer of Chrisland Real Estate Cos. —  which represented Denver-based The Bailey Co., in the sale — said each subsequent apartment sale in the city lately seems to set a new per-unit price record.

The Summit on College apartments, which are geared toward Colorado State University students, sold earlier this year for roughly $219,000 per unit. But student complexes like that often are rented out by the bedroom and thus command higher rents and purchase prices than regular for-market product, Hallauer said.

An affiliate entity of Oak Brook, Ill.-based Inland Real Estate Group bought The Preserve at the Meadows, which includes 68 one-bedroom units, 134 two-bedroom units and 18 three-bedroom units.

The purchase is just the latest play in Fort Collins for Inland, which earlier this spring bought the Miramont Apartments, 4900 E. Boardwalk Drive, and the Pinecone Apartments, 2212 Vermont Drive, for a combined $83 million. Those two sales each came out to around $205,000 per unit. In December, meanwhile, Inland bought the Country Club West Apartments in Greeley for $36 million.

Hallauer said The Preserve at the Meadows was 99 percent leased at the time of the sale. He said several factors are making Fort Collins and the rest of Northern Colorado attractive to outside investors, including not only population and employment growth but also barriers to entry into the market such as construction costs, the availability of raw water for development and land costs, among others.

“With those barriers to entry and a very vibrant, desirable area to live, many investors, such as the buyer of The Preserve at the Meadows, view the Northern Colorado area as a great opportunity to invest for the long-term,” Hallauer said in a press release.

Hallauer and Ryan Schaefer of Chrisland represented the seller in The Preserve sale, while Jeff Slinde and Bert Slinde of Slinde Realty represented the buyer.

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