Regions

Raintree Partners, a Laguna Niguel, Calif.-based real estate investment company, has completed its first multifamily acquisition. CEO Jeffrey B Allen (pictured) formed Raintree Partners, a private real estate investment company, to pursue multifamily development and redevelopment opportunities, in December 2007. Shortly after its formation, Raintree secured a $200 million equity commitment from a major institutional investment management company. Prior to founding Raintree Partners, Allen was founder of J.B. Allen Realty Inc., a private real estate development company formed in 1999 and focused on mixed-use and multifamily residential projects in Southern California. Allen talks to MHN Online News Editor Anuradha Kher…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWashington, D.C.–President Barack Obama has signed into law the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009. The law expands the reach of the Administration’s Making Home Affordable Programs, improves the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) Hope for Homeowners program and streamlines how the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) supports thousands of homeless support programs across America.   “This is another critical step forward in this administration’s effort to strengthen our nation’s housing market and help millions of American homeowners stay in their homes,” says HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.”Specifically, this law improves FHA’s Hope…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News Editor New York–New York City’s multifamily market has been fairly buoyant through the downturn, but there has been a marked decrease in rents and a slowdown in the condominium market. Adjusting to these shifts, developer 119 Third Avenue Associates LLC has converted its for-sale luxury condo tower at 119th Street & 3rd Avenue to a rental property. The building offers studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom units.“Every real estate market presents new opportunities, and clearly the shift to rental units is the best way for us to maximize the value of this amenity-rich residential property,” says Toby…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorBoston—The bright spot in the near term of Boston’s multi-housing market will be the “urban core Class B product,” predicts Greg Willett, vice president of research and analysis at M|PF Yieldstar.Willett predicts the city’s transit-oriented development will outperform other building types. Meanwhile, he anticipates that “the struggles will be when you get to the suburbs, where you have new product coming online and you have competition from the single-family market.”Most of the new supply that is coming online in the Boston metro market—approximately 5,000 units—is concentrated in the suburbs, Willett tells MHN.Occupancy in the metro is…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News Editor Washington, D.C.–How will 25,000 apartment units become more energy efficient in the next two years? With the help of approximately $250 million in grants and loans being offered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This money is being made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), which was recently signed into law by President Barack Obama. It is designed to create thousands of “green collar jobs” as workers retrofit older federally assisted multifamily apartment developments with the next generation of energy-efficient technologies.”HUD will begin to accept…

By Diana Mosher, Editor-in-ChiefThe green movement has many of us rethinking everything from the fibers in the clothes we wear to the way we transport our groceries back from the supermarket. Now President Barack Obama has called for a new national standard for fuel efficiency that’s as strict as the California program and will set limits on climate-altering gases from cars and trucks. The rules—which would create a car and light truck fleet that’s 40 percent cleaner and more fuel-efficient by 2016—would go into effect in 2012. Click here for more details.In the meantime, apartment companies continue looking for ways…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorAnderson, Ind.–Tikijian Associates has arranged the sale of Hilltop Apartments (pictured), a 132-unit community in Anderson, Ind. The listing price was $2,250,000 but sales price was not disclosed.Hilltop Apartments was formerly owned by Wextrust Capital LLC, a Chicago-based real estate investment firm that purchased the property in 2000. In 2008 the two principals of Wextrust were arrested on federal fraud charges for allegedly conducting a $225 million Ponzi scheme and were later indicted on charges of securities fraud and conspiracy. Both men remain in jail. Indianapolis-based apartment owner and manager, Buckingham Cos., was named as…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorEnglewood, Colo.–Jeff Adler, former chief property operations officer at AIMCO and Jack Kern, former investment research director at Archstone-Smith and vice chair of the NMHC Research Committee, have formed a new multifamily investment vehicle, Sanctuary Multifamily Advisors. The asset management firm, one of Sanctuary Group’s companies, which Adler formed in October 2008 after departing AIMCO, plans to initially acquire and renovate 5,000 to 7,000 units in Denver, San Diego and Orange County, Calif.“Our concept all along has been to marry a solid quantitative foundation in investment analysis with moderate leverage and a passion for the…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorChapel Hill, N.C.–NorthMarq Capital recently arranged first mortgage financing of $13.11 million for The Pointe at Chapel Hill, a 240-unit multifamily complex, located in Chapel Hill, N.C. Financing was based on a five-year interest-only term and was arranged for the borrower, a Chicago-based apartment owner and manager, by NorthMarq through its affiliate AmeriSphere Multifamily Finance, a Fannie Mae DUS lender.Love Funding Closes $5.56M Loan for 40-Bed Assisted Living Property  Leesburg, Va.–Love Funding recently utilized LEAN processing to close a $5,560,000 refinance loan for Meadow Glen of Leesburg, a 40-bed assisted living facility located in Leesburg,…

By Keat Foong, Executive Editor Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.—Has the apartment market bottomed? Here is one company that is currently in acquisitions mode for conventional apartments.  The Newport Beach-based Stoneridge Capital Partners purchased the Class A, 498-unit Avila Apartment Homes here from The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company for $70 million. According to Greg Merage, CEO of Stoneridge Capital Partners, the company is able to move forward on this transaction because it has patient, internal, capital that invests for the long-term. Also, the company believes in the long-range fundamentals for multifamily in Orange County, especially in south Orange County where…