Beech Lake Apartments in Durham Sells for $19.7M

by Adriana Pop, Associate Editor

Palatine Capital Partners Management LLC has sold the 345-unit Beech Lake multifamily community located in Durham for $19,700,000. Westdale Properties and Lubert-Adler acquired the apartment complex. The transaction closed on Dec. 24, 2011. Apartment Realty Advisors represented the seller.

Palatine purchased Beech Lake for $15,600,000 in September 2009 through a joint-venture with Somerset Partners. Alex Hurst, founder and managing partner of Palatine Capital Partners, said the sale represents another successful apartment investment for the company. “We substantially improved Beech Lake’s physical condition, and were able to grow rents by more than 11 percent during our hold period,” he added. According to CoStar, the one- and two-bedroom multifamily community located at 4800 University Drive was developed in 1986 and includes 30 apartment buildings, totaling 335,730 square feet.

New York-based Palatine Capital Partners is a private real estate firm focused on situational asset level investing. Founded in 2007, Palatine has executed over 30 investments with asset values totaling $390 million. It has acquired interests in more than 2,500 apartment units, 265,000 square feet of commercial space and 16 whole loans.

In regional news, Capstone Real Estate Investments LLC of Birmingham, Ala. recently purchased the Northampton Plaza apartment complex in Chapel Hill for an undisclosed amount. The company focuses on the acquisition, renovation and repositioning of under-performing off-campus student housing facilities and plans to upgrade the 155-unit apartment community over the summer.

According to county records, Capstone Real Estate Investments purchased the Northampton Plaza building from The Birgel Family Partnership, a North Carolina limited partnership, and signed a 50-year land lease agreement. The seven-acre property is located at 600 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, in the vicinity of UNC-Chapel Hill’s main campus.

The Triangle Business Journal reports that the Alabama-based company secured a loan for $5.6 million from IberiaBank Corp. of Lafayette, La. to finance the acquisition and repositioning of the apartment community. Capstone Apartment Partners of Charlotte brokered the sale, the newspaper noted.

Photo credits: www.beechlakeapartments.com