Iman, Whitmer, Merin, Farris and Karali of Cushman & Wakefield broker $71 million apartment sale

Cushman & Wakefield, Inc. has orchestrated the $71 million sale of Village Square Apartments, a garden-style 694-unit complex. Karen Iman, Brian Whitmer, Andrew Merin, Marybeth Farris and Nick Karali of the firm's Capital Markets Group (CMG) represented the agent for the seller, Korman Residential, and procured the buyer, Paradise Property, LLC. "Korman, which originally developed Village Square Apartments and had owned the complex since 1971, is one of the premier owners and operators of multi-family properties with a long, storied history," said Iman. "With that well-deserved reputation, this offering attracted more than 120 expressions of interest from across the country." "The subsequent bidding process was highly competitive, and Paradise Property, LLC, a Philadelphia area-based family investment fund with long ties to the region, ultimately acquired it as part of its long-term business plan," said Whitmer. Situated on 40 acres near I-95 in Pennsylvania's Bucks County, Village Square Apartments consists of 436 one-bedroom and 258 two-bedroom units in 56 two-story, brick-clad buildings. Amenities include a business center with Wi-fi internet, a clubhouse, fitness center, Olympic-sized swimming pool and tennis courts. The complex was more than 90 percent occupied at the time of sale. "Village Square has been meticulously maintained and continuously upgraded over the years by Korman," added Iman. "The market for well-located, high-quality multi-family assets in metro Philadelphia has been robust with activity, and we have seen growing demand both from local owners and developers, as well as investors from outside of the region. "The fact that this offering attracted more than 120 expressions of interest is a clear sign of the demand that's out there for apartment assets, not only in metro Philadelphia, but also the larger Washington, D.C. to New York corridor," Merin said. "But metro Philadelphia in particular has emerged as a market for multi-family investors. In the early 2000's, only a handful of communities were being sold in this market per year. Since 2010, with an influx of new buyers and capital targeting Philadelphia assets, we're seeing a more heated and liquid investment sales market with a dozen or more communities being sold per year." "With that influx, pricing has become increasingly aggressive, and class B communities with a vintage similar to Village Square have been trading near a six percent yield," he said. Cushman & Wakefield's Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group specializes exclusively in investment sales of multifamily, office, industrial, and retail properties throughout Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Fairfield County, Conn. The team is currently marketing over 2,400 units in existing communities in these markets and has completed more than $16 billion worth of transactions since 2000.