640-Unit Connecticut Apartment Portfolio Fetches $75M

Chestnut Hill and Northwoods Apartments, two multi-family communities accounting for an aggregate 650 residences in Middletown, Conn., have just come under new ownership. Entities operating as Northwoods Apartment Associates L.L.C. and Chestnut Apartment Associates L.L.C. took the two Class A properties, located approximately 15 miles south of Hartford, off the hands of Middletown-Oxford L.P. and Connecticut Colony Associates L.P. in a transaction valued at $75 million. Carrying the address of 4 Town Colony Dr., Chestnut Hill features 314 units encompassed in seven three-story structures. The community was developed on nearly 30 acres in 1986. Northwoods occupies approximately 17 acres at 1 Dove Lane, just blocks northwest of Chestnut Hill. Also developed in 1986, the 336-unit complex consists of five three-story structures. Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services represented the sellers and the buyers in the transaction. The luxury apartment properties are in a market with high barriers to entry for new development, and a strong demand that–at the beginning of the year, at least–was spurred in part by strong employment in Hartford and New York City, according to a Marcus & Millichap report. And while the vacancy rate in Hartford has increased a full percentage point since the third quarter of last year, the third quarter vacancy rate of 3.9 percent this year is still well below the national average of 6.4 percent, as per a study by apartment sector research firm AXIOMetrics Inc. The figures put Hartford in the position of the 10th tightest apartment market of 88 MSAs surveyed by AXIOMetrics.