A private buyer has purchased a prominent apartment complex in Uptown, planning to upgrade it for a higher-earning class of renters, according to one of the brokers involved in the transaction.
Los Angeles-based CIM Group sold Lennox at West Village, a 159-unit apartment complex on top of retail space, in an all-cash deal, the company said May 28. CIM Group had owned the community since 2013.
Financial terms were not disclosed. The identity of the buyer was not disclosed and the deed for the transaction does not yet appear to be available on Dallas County’s public records website.
Built in 2001, the complex at 3700 Cole Ave. surrounds a courtyard with a pool, barbecue area and lounge space. It also has an indoor gathering area, lounge, coffee bar, fitness center and dog park.
“This location is paramount to that Uptown submarket,” said broker Eric Stockley with Northmarq, whose team helped negotiate the transaction. “This is very much a dynamic destination. … It’s a location and an asset that is going to be a very, very hotly sought-after community.”
Other brokers involved at Northmarq were Taylor Snoddy and Charles Hubbard. The seller was represented by Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap.
The buyer plans to do a extensive renovation that Stockley said will elevate it to the level of other communities in the vicinity and bring in higher-spending renters to the area. That, in turn, could be a boost for the retailers on the ground level.
Refreshing the amenities and interiors, it may be one of the biggest changes to the complex since CIM’s acquisition more than a decade ago.
“It already has great bones, massive floor plans that are conducive for bringing in a higher-end clientele,” Stockley said.
The deal is just for the residential piece, one of several independently owned portions that make up the different uses of building in a condominium-style agreement, Stockley explained.
Stockley declined to name the buyer but said it was a local high-net-worth individual who owns other apartment complexes in DFW.
Being an all-cash deal, the difficult financing climate was not a concern. Stockley said cash buyers are harder to come by and make it more likely for a deal to make it to the finish line. He declined to comment on the seller’s motivations.
One challenge for the team at Northmarq was finding the right buyer for the asset that sits within a complex condominium-style ownership arrangement.
An entity that shares an address with Dallas-based Phoenix Property Co. owns the retail space and parking garage, and 19 individuals own residences in the building, according to Dallas Central Appraisal District records.
“The asset itself has a lot of nuances, and so it’s not necessarily a straightforward deal,” Stockley said. “What we were able to do here is find a particular buyer that has the ability to close an asset with these kinds of encumbrances and difficulties.”
Stockley declined to share the sale price but DCAD estimates the value of the apartments alone at $39 million.
As of the end of last year, CIM Group owned and operated $29.2 billion in assets, according to its website. In the announcement, the firm said it has delivered more than $60 billion in real estate and infrastructure projects since it was founded in 1994, when it was focused on Southern California neighborhoods. Attempts to reach the company for additional information were unsuccessful.
Elsewhere in Dallas, the firm still owns the roughly 230,000-square-foot Offices at Turtle Creek Village, the 95,000-square-foot Shops at Turtle Creek Village and the 488,000-square-foot Epic II office tower in Deep Ellum, which was built to house corporate offices for Uber. Uber later dramatically reduced its plans for the building.
