What's Happening
December 2-8, 2019
By Jeff Yates
Jeff@ARKCIRE.com
Commercial Real Estate around Central Arkansas
Apartments were the hot property segment last month. One owner dominated the market with the sale of a collection of big-ticket apartment-home communities.
The Ridge at Chenal Valley is 312 units on 26 acres sited on the north side of Chenenonceau Boulevard, near the intersection with AR Highway 10. MAA Arkansas REIT, LLC (formerly Mid-America Apartment Communities) sold the luxury apartment complex to Chenal Valley Partners, LLC for $45,500,000 with the deed filed on Nov. 1. The math on this transaction works out to be just about $145,833 per unit.
MAA Arkansas REIT, LLC also elected to sell Napa Valley Apartments at 501 Napa Valley Drive. It sold for $19,700,000. That’s $82,000 per unit. This 240-unit community was completed in 1986. That’s over 30 years ago. Many readers will remember when these apartments were built, and even when the Bowman Curve area was all brand new and was the edge town. I’m not saying those readers are old, I’ll bet that they are getting AARP literature in their mailboxes though.
Across the street, over at 500 Napa Valley Drive MAA Arkansas REIT, LLC sold Calais Forest Apartments to Calais Forest Equity Enterprises, LLC. The 260 units here were completed around 1986 also. The $20,500,000 transaction value brought the per unit value of this project in at just under $79,000 each.
Westside Creek Apartments were completed a year prior to the Napa Valley pair. This west-side apartment complex is located on Sam Peck Road just south of the intersection with Cantrell Road. The 308 units there sit on nearly 27 acres and brought $29,800,000 for a per unit value of $96,750. This is another MAA Arkansas REIT, LLC sale.
Quick aside, I thought of the intersection of Chenenonceau as being with Highway 10 and I thought of the intersection of Sam Peck as being with Cantrell Road. It is the same road and we call it different names, even within the city limits, depending on our frame of reference. For me, somewhere between Sam Peck Road and the intersection with Taylor Loop Road there is a transition from Cantrell Road to Highway 10. If you care to share where you think Cantrell becomes Highway 10, shoot me an email. I’m curious.
Ashburry at Chenal sits along Chenal Valley Drive between Rahling Road. (Anyone else consistently have trouble spelling Rahling? The “a” and the “h” are reversed to me.) Ashburry has 216 units located on 13 acres and on Halloween this property sold for $25,500,000. I have to wonder if there is some trick-or-treat symbolism to the closing date because the property had previously changed hands in June 2017 for only $18,600,000. If any of you readers care to share what happened in 28 months to push the value up from around $86,000 per unit to over $118,000 unit. Seems that perhaps WW Olympus Chenal, LP unlocked some value before selling to Chenal Valley – Orchard, LLC / Foxwood, LLC.
In addition to the collection of hefty price tags above, there were several other apartment transactions around the county last month. On Nov. 15, Kiehl Partners, LP and Park Crest Apartments, LLC traded the 216 units of the turn-of-the-century (1998) Park Crest Apartments for the sum of $8,800,000, or about $40,740 per residence. A this-century (built 2001) project by the name of Timberwood Apartments sold on Oct. 31 just up the highway in Jacksonville for $2,600,000. This sale of 56 units carried a per door value of just over $46,400. Also sold on Halloween was the Woodbine Apartments property at 8815 Woodbine Road in Sherwood. This $1,055,000 sale of 44 units delivered a value of $24,000 each. In Little Rock, Alpha Holdings, LLC bought the Lanai Apartments in Midtown last month in a 4-parcel transaction. The sale price of $2,030,000 included 10 units at 223 N Taylor St., 26 units at 5503 B St., 10 units at 5510 A St., and a lot with no building on it at 5503 B St.
Self-storage delivered a couple of transactions last month, both in the Maumelle market. Arkansas Storage Centers VII, LLC paid RW Scott Enterprises $4,850,000 for 215 units at 8007 Counts Massie Road. Red Dot Storage 180, LLC paid $2,550,000 to Maumelle Storage Center, LLC for 287 units at 98 Commercial Park Court.
Also in Maumelle, and previously reported, the Maumelle Town Center sold for $3,240,000. This 34,400 square foot retail center had previously sold in 2005 for $3,899,000. The former Walmart Neighborhood Market was not included in the transaction.
Back along the Highway 10/Cantrell Road corridor, a transaction at 5320 Highland Drive caught my eye. This building was built in 2011. It doesn’t seem like it has been that long. Over the years I had the opportunity to look at this building, and the twin building next to it, a few times. I didn’t understand why the buildings went unoccupied for so long. This 6,472-square foot building sold on Oct. 25 for $825,000. Another transaction that caught my eye was the sale of the Tacos 4 Life property. The restaurant at 2630 S. Shackleford Road sold for $2,700,000.
I’ve been asked a hundred times about what is going to happen on the cleared area along Rahling Road. A portion of that sold a while back has been submitted to the Little Rock Planning Commission with an application to be “Housing for the Elderly.” The application includes 21 cottages, clubhouse, main building with 115 beds and 2 courtyards. If this project is completed, it will considerably change the look of the cleared property. With construction will come construction traffic, noise and so forth. I’m sure there will be no complaints from any of the neighbors.
I’m out of space and time for this month. Shoot me an email anytime. I appreciate the feedback. Tips and suggestions, well most of them anyway, are appreciated. Hope you found something interesting in the column this month. Check back again next month for the things that didn’t get included here this time and that pop up between now and then.
