Suburban Denver Asset Trades for $17M

The Willowbrook Apartments. Image via Google Maps

Epic Investment Services has purchased a 95-unit garden-style community in Westminster, Colo., for $16.6 million. Summit Communities was the previous owner of the four-building property, dubbed The Willowbrook Apartments. Colliers represented the seller during the transaction.

The 1973-built asset is at 7155 Raleigh St., 1 mile west of U.S. Highway 287. Some 10 miles north of downtown Denver, the property is a short distance from the West 72nd Avenue retail corridor and 1 mile from the Westminster rail station.

Colliers Senior Vice Presidents Bill Morkes and Craig Stack, along with Associate Broker Keegan Hofer, arranged the value-add sale, which represents Epic Investment’s first acquisition in the Colorado market.

According to Epic’s senior vice president of investments, Allan Okabe, the company is focusing on leading markets with stable demographics and employment for its U.S. Multifamily Fund. Such areas include Arizona, Texas, North Carolina, Colorado, Tennessee, Nevada, Georgia, Utah and Florida.

Picking up the pace

The outlook for Denver’s multifamily market appears bright: As of April, rents had grown by 0.5 percent on a trailing-three month basis, increasing in line with the national average. A recent Yardi Matrix report forecasts that the metro’s rent growth for the calendar year could reach 3.9 percent.

Denver has begun to show signs of a wider economic recovery. In May, the metro’s unemployment rate was 5.9 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While this trails the national figure by 10 basis points, it’s a significant drop from the high point of 12.4 percent reported last April. Several efforts, including Denver Mayor Hancock’s RISE Denver project, could additionally create as many as 40,000 jobs by the end of next year.