GEM Property Management Exits St. Louis in $180M Sale

GEM Property Management has traded its entire St. Louis multifamily portfolio for $180 million to Monarch Investment and Management Group. The six garden-style communities involved in the transaction total 1,970 units located on the southern side of St. Louis County. The transaction is the largest multifamily deal in the city’s history, according to Berkadia. Monarch financed its acquisition with a series of six loans funded by Fannie Mae. The properties sold to Monarch include:

• Canyon Creek at 4851 Lemay Ferry Road in St. Louis (320 units)
• Forest Woods at 101 Forest Parkway in Valley Park, Mo. (260 units)
• Southwoods at 9287 Fort Sumter Lane in St. Louis (256 units)
• Heritage Estates at 9196 Heritage Drive in St. Louis (388 units)
• The Villages at General Grant at 7482 Hardscrapple Drive in St. Louis (550 units)
• Village Royale at 5602 Duessel Lane in St. Louis (196 units)

Strong occupancy, recent upgrades

The communities have a weighted average occupancy rate of 95.7 percent, according to Yardi Matrix data from February 2018. GEM first entered the St. Louis market in 1993, and the firm’s latest St. Louis acquisition was Southwoods, which it bought from Banner Property Management in 2014.

Berkadia’s Andrea Kendrick and Ken Aston represented GEM in the sale, with the firm’s Peter Benedetto securing the acquisition financing on behalf of Monarch. Going forward, the new owner will handle management for the assets.

“The portfolio included six outstanding apartment communities with long-term ownership,” said Kendrick, senior director with Berkadia, in a prepared statement. “In recent years, the seller invested more than $50 million into capital improvements. This deal was an excellent opportunity for the buyer to acquire 2,000 units in the premier south St. Louis County submarket, providing them with even greater economies of scale.”

Image courtesy of Yardi Matrix