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V O L . X X I I N O. X I I M AY 3 0 , 2 0 1 6 8 B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S N E W S F RO M A RO U N D T H E S TAT E Broker: $87.5M deal the largest of its kind S O U T H P O R T L A N D — CBRE|The Boulos Co. made Maine history when, along with Boston-based CBRE/New England, the commercial real estate fi rm orchestrated the sale of a 620-unit apartment portfolio for $87.5 million to a Massachusetts investor. It was the largest sale in its class. The previous high was in December, when 309 units in Portland and Scarborough sold for $50.2 million, also to a Massachusetts investor. CBRE|The Boulos Co. brokered that deal as well. In the recent deal, which closed May 5, Jones Street Investment Partners of Hingham, Mass., bought adjacent apartment complexes in South Portland from Dallas-based Lone Star Funds, a private equity fi rm. CBRE|New England and CBRE|The Boulos Co. represented both the buyer and seller. Joe Porta, a partner at CBRE|The Boulos Co., was the Maine-based man on the ground — and was also the Maine-based lead on the December sale. The two complexes, which serve middle-income tenants, are Redbank Village and neighboring Liberty Commons. The sheer size of the properties, along with the dollar value, helped make this a unique sale, said Porta. Redbank Village, which dates to the mid-1940s and is at 62 MacArthur Circle East on 58 acres, covers 2.5 million square feet and includes 500 apartments. Next door, Liberty Commons, at 4 Liberty Lane on 8.6 acres, is comprised of six 3-story residential buildings constructed between 2005 and 2006. The buildings total 375,487 square feet and have 120 apartments. It also has two fi ve-car garages. The properties are surrounded by other multi-family housing communities and have great access to major retail and dining amenities, including the Maine Mall. Last year, Lone Star paid $7.6 billion for Rochester, N.Y.-based Home Properties, a real estate investment trust with 41,917 apartments in 121 communities. Redbank and Liberty were part of that portfolio, but didn't fi t into Lone Star's long-term plans, Porta said. Because Greater Portland doesn't regularly see huge surges in rent, the assets would be more about buying and holding in order to make a profi t. "They kept some holdings of the original portfolio acquired from Home Properties, but this is a small asset for Lone Star, and it was not a clean fi t in their extensive multi-family portfolio," Porta said. Enter Jones Street Investment Partners, which was founded in 2014 and focuses on institutional multifamily assets in the Northeast. The sale doubled the size of the fi rm's portfolio, to more than 1,200 apartments. The price they paid is on par with properties of this scale in the area, said Porta. "Like a lot of institutional funds, they're aggressively looking for a stable return with upside," said Porta. "The markets are so effi cient right now, espe- cially in this asset class, that everyone is chasing the same return. So people are paying for a little bit of the upside that they're expecting." Although Maine's size and population puts it in the tertiary market, overall real estate revenue in southern Maine is doing better than that — acting like a secondary market, said Porta. "Part of it is supply and demand for investment property. And part of it stems from the symptoms Greater Portland is showing, performing well in the multi-family space," he said. "There's strong demand for all multi-family rentals in Greater Portland right now, but we do not exactly have a huge boom in the year-round population, so the other part of it is a shift in where people are choosing to live and the inventory that is available to them." — L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y C B R E | T H E BO U L O S C O M PA N Y The Liberty Commons and Redbank Village apartment complexes in South Portland have been sold for $87.5 million to Jones Street Investment Partners of Hingham, Mass. We're here. We're local. We're independent... Employee Benefits Team PAQUIN & CARROLL INSURANCE www.insurancepc.com Toll free: 800-287-1486 ...and we won't drop the ball. We're there when it matters most with friendly, trusted insurance advice. We can help you find the most affordable health care plan with no additional cost to you or your company. Give our team a call today! Home | Business | Auto | Employee Benefits Biddeford • Saco • Westbrook Sales start before before before before before before before before your salesperson calls. your salesperson calls. Sales start before your salesperson calls. Contact Publisher Donna Brassard at 207.761.8379 x327 or donnab@mainebiz.biz Warm up your cold calls with local B2B media advertising. Now, what was it you wanted to sell me? who you are, your company, your company's record, your company's product, your company's reputation, your company's customers, or what your company stands for. I don't know…

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