The Emerson is about 94% occupied, according to CoStar Group. The complex’s average effective rent is $2,510 per month, or $3.01 per square foot.
A California investor picked up an Oak Park apartment complex for more than $60 million, the latest in a string of big acquisitions the firm has made in the Chicago area over the last several months.
A unit of San Francisco-based FPA Multifamily paid $60.3 million for the 270-unit Emerson apartments at 1135 Westgate St. in the inner-ring suburb in a deal that closed July 1, according to Cook County property records.
The transaction comes less than four months after FPA Multifamily’s $144 million purchase of a 500-unit high-rise in the South Loop and follows the firm’s other acquisitions in the Chicago area that include a 558-unit complex in Westmont for $96 million in September 2023, according to real estate information company CoStar Group, and a 286-unit vintage building in Streeterville for $55 million in June 2023.
It also comes as investors are showing interest in apartment buildings around Chicago as the region’s rent growth outpaces other markets. Net monthly rents at suburban Chicago apartments were up 4% year over year in the first quarter of 2024, rising to $2.06 per square foot, according to data from the Chicago office of appraisal and consulting firm Integra Realty Resources.
An FPA executive confirmed an affiliate of the firm was the buyer but referred questions to the firm’s senior vice president of acquisitions for markets including Chicago, Ronak Shah, who did not respond to requests for comment.
FPA financed the deal with a $44.1 million Freddie Mac loan arranged by brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle, according to property records.
The seller was Charlotte, N.C.-based Quarterra, the multifamily arm of national homebuilder Lennar, according to Cook County property records. Lennar co-CEO Stuart Miller said the firm was exploring selling its apartment holdings in December 2023, according to reports. Quarterra recently sold 18 properties totaling more than 5,200 units in coastal and Sun Belt markets to global investment firm KKR, CoStar News reported.
Lennar and Quarterra did not respond to requests for comment on the Oak Park transaction. The property appears to have traded for more than the amount of debt Lennar held on it — the firm completed the building in 2017 with a $50.8 million construction loan from JPMorgan, then refinanced the property with a $53.3 million mortgage from Truist that matured July 15, according to data from research firm MSCI Real Assets.
By Rachel Herzog
Rachel Herzog is a commercial real estate reporter for Crain’s Chicago Business. She joined Crain’s in 2023 from The Real Deal, where she had covered commercial real estate in Chicago. Before that, Herzog wrote for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. She is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, receiving a bachelor’s degree in media and journalism, as well as a separate degree in Hispanic literature and culture.
