Kentucky’s Largest Apartment Community Sold

By Jeffrey Steele, Contributing Writer

Louisville, Ky.—Park At Hurstbourne, a 689-unit Louisville apartment community recognized as the largest in Kentucky, has been sold. The announcement was made December 20 by Commercial Kentucky Inc., which represented Louisville developer Medford Property Co. in the sale. Medford had owned Park at Hurstbourne for more than 20 years. The purchase price was $39,225,000.

Buyer Louisville Property LLC liked the property because of its proximity to fast-growing job centers. “Job growth [is] taking place in Louisville, particularly at the General Electric Appliance Park, where G.E. makes home appliances,” Craig S. Collins, senior director for Commercial Kentucky, tells MHN. “Ford and UPS have also been growing jobs in the past 24 months, and the property provides convenient access to all three of those employment centers.”

Proximity to jobs was only one of Park at Hurstbourne’s attractive qualities, says Collins, who along with Mike Kemether of Cushman & Wakefield of Georgia personally represented Medford Property Co. Located on Hurstbourne Pkwy., a limited access parkway providing easy access to Interstates 65 and 64, the community is close to a Super Wal-Mart and a Meijer hypermarket, as well as an extended Kroger supermarket. Park at Hurstbourne is nine to 10 miles from Churchill Downs and seven to eight miles to the University of Louisville.

A location within the city but with a countrified feel was another selling point. “Although it’s located in an infill position, the land size of just more than 50 acres does give it a park-like setting, with a lot of mature trees,” Collins says.

Common-area amenities of the nearly 40-year-old garden-style community include an on-site daycare center available to residents, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, workout facility, two clubhouses, indoor basketball court and indoor tennis courts. Louisville Property LLC plans upgrades that will include rehabilitation of the clubhouses, addition of another playground system and new fitness equipment, and interior renovations to units themselves, Collins says.

One significant challenge came up during the apartment community’s listing period, Collins recalls. “One week after it was listed, 24 units were taken offline by a fire that resulted in smoke and water damage,” he says. “Twelve of the units were delivered with renovated interiors at closing, and the remaining 12 were delivered at the end of the year [of 2012]. The seller had an in-house contractor that efficiently handled the reconstruction of the units.”

During the sale period, the marketing campaign orchestrated by Commercial Kentucky fielded more than 15 offers from would-be buyers from New York to California, according to Collins. “That illustrates the high occupancy levels and job growth in Louisville,” he adds, noting some sources show Louisville placing within the top five U.S. job growth cities in both 2011 and 2012.