No. of Properties: Five
Buyer: Security Properties
Seller: Washington Holdings
Property type: Mid-rise
Units: 903
Location: Seattle
Total purchase price: $400.8 million
Virtú Investments emerged from a competitive bidding process to snap up two properties in Seattle in a deal that closed on Sept. 16, Erik Reif, the firm’s senior director of acquisitions, told Multifamily Dive.
Security Properties, already a large owner in the Seattle metro area with nearly 2,000 units, has added 903 apartments to its portfolio with the purchase of five properties from Washington Holdings for $400.8 million, according to a news release shared with Multifamily Dive.
In the transaction, Security Properties added Liza Eastlake, The Hemlock, The Hayes on Stone Way, Carter on the Park and Heron Flats & Lofts, which were listed for sale in April. This is the second deal the apartment owner and owner developer has made with Washington Holdings, both based in Seattle, this year.
“We actually first learned about this opportunity back in December when we were touring another Washington Holdings asset called the Henry in North Queen Anne, which we ended up purchasing,” Dan Byrnes, CEO of Security Properties, told Multifamily Dive. “We closed on that deal in the spring, and so we had a really great working relationship with the Washington Holdings team.”
Security Holdings plans to upgrade the interiors in two of the properties, but overall, they were “very well-managed properties in great locations.”
“These are very well-built deals with strong tenancy,” Byrnes said. “We want to just continue with a resident-centric approach to keep our buildings full.”
Security Properties is bullish on its hometown as units under construction continue to drop and demand grows stronger. Byrnes said the firm will continue to “double down” in the market.
“We've been able to monitor operational performance trends in real time, and that visibility reinforces our thesis that select Seattle submarkets are experiencing tangible return office demand, while new construction activity remains near multiyear lows,” Byrnes said.
Security Properties is also eyeing growth in Denver; Nashville, Tennessee; Phoenix; Austin, Texas; and Northern California. With institutional equity sources showing strong demand for properties in those markets, the firm expects to add assets in those areas.
“Our real leading indicator is how active are institutional equity sources — the insurance companies, the opportunity funds, the endowments, pension funds,” Byrnes said. “How strong is their appetite for multifamily product? And it has not been stronger at any point in the last several years.”
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