Attracting a Growing Local Market

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

Troy, Mich.—The Solomon Organization has acquired Somerset Park, a 2,226-unit apartment property with a nine-hole golf course in Troy, a suburb of Detroit, for an unspecified price. The buyer plans to renovate apartment interiors and upgrade common areas, including the property’s recreational facilities.

Zach Solomon, managing director for the Solomon Organization, told MHN that it “was a great opportunity to acquire a well-maintained multi-housing property that we could renovate to attract the growing local market of renters-by-choice who are  seeking high-end apartments with on-site amenities.”

Ten years ago, such residents might have sought to buy condos or starter homes, Solomon noted. Now lifestyle patterns have changed and demand for upscale style and amenities in apartments has become the norm.

Troy, Solomon added, is in a prime location just 30 minutes from downtown, and in a position to benefit from the recovery in the metro Detroit economy, which is gaining momentum. “We were also attracted by the fact that we could work with the seller in an off-market transaction, which is consistent with our acquisition history,” he said.

Somerset Park was developed in the mid-1970s just off Big Beaver Road and is adjacent to the Somerset Collection, a regional shopping mall. Also nearby is the Somerset Hotel, a Whole Foods grocery store and several office buildings.

Summit, NJ-based Solomon Organization has acquired more than $500 million of residential property in the last 24 months, including 5,391 total apartment units: a three-property portfolio in Rochester, NY; a garden apartment campus in suburban Philadelphia; a mid-rise outside of New Haven, Conn.; and new-construction units in three separate transactions in suburban New York City and Harrisburg, Pa.