Inland Buys Suburban Denver Apartments

By D.C. Stribling

Inland Real Estate Acquisitions has acquired Ashford East 88, a 322-unit multifamily property in Thornton, Colo. Located at 101 East 88th, the property will be renamed Park 88 Apartment Homes by the new owner.

The community consists of 14 three-story buildings with 147 one-bedroom units, 82 two-bedroom/one-bath units, 86 two-bedroom/one-and-a-half bath units, and seven studios. Common amenities include a clubhouse, fitness center, business center, indoor/outdoor swimming pool, a dog park and an outdoor playground and picnic area.

Ashford East 88 underwent significant interior and exterior renovations under previous ownership, in 2014. Mark Cosenza, senior vice president of Inland Real Estate Acquisitions, facilitated the deal, with assistance from Brett Smith, assistant vice president and associate counsel of the Inland Real Estate Group, Law Department, on behalf of an Inland affiliate.

Metro Denver Apartment Construction, Absorption Strong

The community is about 95 percent occupied. “The property’s strong demographics and value-add upgrades made this the type of attractive multifamily acquisition we continue to seek,” Cosenza said.

Thornton is a northeast suburb of Denver, about 10 miles from downtown. With this transaction, Inland Real Estate Acquisitions has completed the acquisition of 5,183 units in the Denver metro area.

Overall, greater Denver is a frenetic apartment market these days. According to the most recent Denver Metro Apartment Vacancy and Rent report by the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business, the metro area absorbed 11,821 new apartment units last year, compared with 11,056 in 2016, and a record as far back as the data goes, to 1981.

Because of robust construction in recent years, the report also noted that the average rent marketwide dropped to $1,396 at the end of 2017, compared with $1,420 at the end of 3Q 2017.