MIG Buys Denver-Area Apartments

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

Centennial, Colo.—MIG Real Estate has acquired Copper Terrace Apartments, a 168-unit multifamily property in the southeastern Denver suburb of Centennial. The buyer did not specify a price for the asset.

Copper Terrace is about 15 miles south of downtown Denver and one mile from the Arapahoe at Village Center FasTracks Station (FasTracks is the rail system under construction in Denver-Aurora and Boulder). According to MIG CEO Greg Merage, the company was attracted by the “property’s value-add potential and location within a thriving job center,” a figure he puts at 423,000 jobs in the Southeast Business Corridor.

The property includes one-, two- and three-bedroom units with walk-in closets and private patios or balconies. Common amenities include a swimming pool, clubhouse, fitness center and children’s playground. Copper Terrace also offers fireplaces and vaulted ceilings in some units, as well as optional detached garages.

The deal represents southern California-based MIG Real Estate’s sixth investment in Colorado multifamily properties, following its acquisition of Rosemont Ridge in Denver in 2011, as well as its 2012 purchases of the Hamptons and the Huntington in Lakewood, Canyon Point Cottages in Golden, and Churchill Downs in Denver.

Denver is a booming metro area, particularly in terms of job creation. According to investment specialist Marcus & Millichap, there will be a net increase of nearly 50,000 jobs in metro Denver by the end of 2014, which will drive household formation — especially apartments, since the population skews a little young. The under-30 college graduate population in Denver grew by 37.5 percent between 2000 and 2011, notes the Census Bureau, and it currently has the 14th largest such population along major MSAs.