Four multifamily sales, all off-market, total $35.5 million

After closing four multifamily property sales in off-market deals at the end of May, senior vice president Tim Swanston of North Coast Commercial Inc. said the buyer appetite for such properties hasn’t abated.

The four properties, totaling 319 units, sold for a combined $35.5 million, according to Swanston. All four sales were from different buyers and sellers, though all four buyers were based in the San Diego area and bought properties as the second part of 1031 exchanges to avoid taxes. “People look to sell smaller ones and trade into bigger ones,” Swanston said. In all four sales, Swanston said, he heard from the property owner about putting up the property for sale and made calls to those he thought would be interested. All four times, a buyer was in place before the property was listed.

“I feel like a lot of stuff trades off-market,” he said. “When you get someone willing to sell, they can find a buyer.”

According to Swanston, the four sales were: Butterfly Gardens, a 210-unit property at 9100-9190 Tuolumne Drive in Sacramento, for $19.375 million; Terrace Gardens, a 27-unit property at 2125 Fair Oaks Blvd. in Sacramento, for $3.5 million; Woodbridge Apartments, a 36-unit property at 5135 El Camino Ave. in Carmichael, for $3.6 million; and Fifth Ave. Apartments, a 46-unit property at 500 Pole Line Road in Davis, for $9.08 million.

Swanston said the new buyer of Butterfly Gardens is hoping to make some upgrades and try to capitalize on the housing market for students at nearby California State University Sacramento. “He wants to take a ‘C’ property and turn it into a ‘B-minus’ property,” he said.