Marcus & Millichap Inks $90M Sale of Central CT Portfolio

New Haven, Conn.—Marcus & Millichap’s Institutional Property Advisors division is starting off September with a bang, closing a $90 million sale of a six-property portfolio in central Connecticut. The sale of the 741-unit portfolio equates to $121,457 per unit.

Victor Nolletti, Steve Witten and Still Hunter III, all executive directors of IPA’s Northeast and Florida team, along with Associate Eric Pentore, represented the seller, a series of Delaware LLCs controlled by a large REIT. Although the name of the REIT was not disclosed, online records suggest the seller is Equity Residential, which has been selling off assets in the past year. As MHN reported last October, Equity Residential sold a portfolio of more than 23,000 units to Starwood Capital Group’s Starwood Global Opportunity Fund X, and stated its plans to sell another 26 properties in “non-core submarkets” in Massachusetts and Connecticut. As CEO David Neithercut said at the time, the REIT was narrowing its focus to be entirely directed toward its “core, high-density urban markets.”

The IPA team also found the buyer, local owner-operator Navarino Acquistions LLC.

The portfolio largely consists of workforce housing properties in “strong Connecticut submarkets,” Nolletti said. He added that the assets are “well positioned for enhanced revenue through a combination of kitchen, bath, common area and amenity upgrades.”

“The central Connecticut market, specifically in the ‘workforce housing’ segment, is opportunistic,” Noletti told MHN. ” There is a significant rent delta between the existing multifamily stock and new construction.” He said much of the existing stock hasn’t been renovated so property upgrades can help close the new stock rent gap.

This transaction is also unique because it’s rare for a firm to be able to acquire this many housing units, Witten added. The acquisition will allow the buyer to establish a substantial presence in central Connecticut, he said.

The properties in the portfolio include:

• Summit and Birch Hill Apartments, which offer 186 units across 13 buildings in Farmington;
• Fox Hill Apartments, which includes 168 units across 23 buildings in Enfield;
• Briar Knoll Apartments, a 150-unit community of 15 buildings in Vernon;
• High Meadow Apartments, a 100-unit community of six buildings in Ellington;
• Bradford Commons, a 64-unit community of eight buildings in Newington; and
• Woodbridge Aparments, a 73-unit community of six buildings in Newington.

Earlier this month, IPA closed an $88 million sale of a 253-unit community in Los Angeles County, California.