This Week's Baltimore Deal Sheet
Cadre, a technology-driven real estate investment platform, has sold the Versailles Apartments in Towson for $62.8M.
Livingston Street Capital acquired the 210-unit multifamily property, Commercial Observer reported. Cadre had bought the asset in partnership with Ross Cos. and GMF Capital in 2017, describing the deal as a “light value-add” acquisition.
The sale of the Versailles Apartments, according to Cadre, comes three years ahead of schedule through a combination of the asset’s strong performance and capitalization rate compression. Cadre expects to achieve a 20.7% net internal rate of return for investors, which according to the firm, nearly doubles the property’s underwritten target.
Cadre said the property’s profitability stemmed from high demand in the area due to the region’s concentration of medical professionals and universities.
“We believe ownership of a more diversified portfolio of real estate assets is one of the greatest ways to empower more investors seeking to build generational wealth," Cadre founder Ryan Williams said in a release, which also announced an Atlanta sale. "These sales are two more significant steps in bringing this aspiration to reality."
SALES
Focus Development paid nearly $3M for the former Baltimore campus of Stratford University, a private, for-profit college that announced last month it would shut down for good. The developer plans to transform the vacant property into apartments, the Baltimore Business Journal reported. It is the latest in a string of shuttered college campuses being redeveloped as many universities face financial challenges.
The Stratford University property, located between Harbor East, Little Italy and Jonestown sits at the heart of the ongoing redevelopment of East Baltimore. That project involves several private developers and the demolition of public housing with a price tag of about $1B.
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An investment group controlled by Sam Tenenbaum has purchased the office building at 6340 Security Blvd. for $5M, Commercial Observer reported. Woodlawn MD III FGF sold the property that currently lists Accenture, Friendly Finance and Perfect Office Solutions as tenants.
LEASES
Baltimore Orioles CEO John Angelos said last week he intends to sign a new lease at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the Baltimore Sun reported. According to Front Office Sports, the lease gives the team access to $600M in public financing for stadium upgrades and investment in economic development initiatives near the 30-year-old ballpark.
In 2019, reports of a potential sale of the team had indicated the Orioles might depart for Nashville, but a new lease would commit the Major League Baseball franchise to Baltimore for the long term.
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Baltimore-based Merritt Properties entered the north Florida market last year, citing a lack of available land in Maryland. Nearly a year after that move, Merritt said Loomis US inked the first lease at its Imeson Landing Business Park in Jacksonville for 29K SF.
FINANCING
The New York Pension Fund will invest up to $15M with Baltimore-based MCB Real Estate affiliate MCB GP Accelerator. MCB GP Accelerator, according to Pensions and Investments, will use the funds to back co-general partner opportunities "alongside early-stage real estate operators and developers."
