Nevada Multifamily and Other CRE Assets Head for Auction Block

Irvine, Calif.–A real estate auction of Nevada property and notes with a nominal value of $1 billion has been slated for next month by Auction.com and Archetype Advisors. The offering will feature multifamily properties along with retail and industrial assets, and land. The auction will be held May 17-19 in a simultaneous online and live event in Las Vegas.

The assets are primarily in Las Vegas, with other properties (properties and notes) in Henderson, Carson City, Sparks and Reno. Two major multifamily assets on the block include a $50 million non-performing note secured by the Fountains at Flamingo, a gated apartment complex off the Las Vegas Strip with 524 units on 28 acres of land, and a $38 million non-performing note secured by the Montego Bay Apartments, a multifamily property in Henderson with 420 units on 23 acres. A major non-multifamily asset to be auctioned is the $56 million non-performing note secured by the 333,000 square-foot Sahara Pavilion North shopping center in Las Vegas.

The auctioneers expect strong interest in the assets. “We’ve always seen tremendous interest in property and non-performing notes in most states–but Nevada in particular,” Auction.com CEO Jeff Frieden tells MHN. Presumably investors are betting on an eventual economic resurgence in recession-stricken Nevada.

“According to our research and our past auction history, there’s huge demand for commercial real estate and non-performing notes in Nevada from a national perspective,” Frieden says. “In fact, 58 percent of our commercial real estate and non-performing notes activity are Nevada-based investors, followed by 28 percent in California, then [others] in Arizona, New York and Texas.”

He adds that for this particular auction, Auction.com has already seen the highest initial web traffic and general inquiries of any CRE and non-performing notes auction that the company has ever done. “There is a real thirst for commercial real estate and non-performing notes throughout many states, particularly Nevada,” Frieden says.

With so many distressed properties and bum notes kicking around, auctioning is a popular way to deal with such assets on a company’s books, Frieden continues. “We now have 72 institutional sellers using Auction.com for note and commercial real estate disposition,” he says.

Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., with offices in Dallas and New York, Auction.com has sold $9 billion in real estate assets at auction since 2007, both in large-format auctions and online. Its clients are mainly residential and commercial mortgage lenders, servicers and home builders.