A 17-story, 163-unit apartment building near Loyola University Chicago in Edgewater changed hands as investors seek to capitalize on a strong rental market led by college students.
Chicago-based Exemplar Capital, controlled by Charles Young, bought Granville Apartments at 6230 North Kenmore Avenue for $31.5 million, Cook County records show. Exemplar financed the purchase with a $30.6 million loan provided by Walker & Dunlop. The seller was local real estate investor Cameel Halim.
Available two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments start between $1,413 and $1,990 a month, according to Apartment Finder. The building is 94 percent rented and is a half-mile from Loyola. Harry S. Truman College and North Park University are less than five miles away and the nearby Granville red line train station connects to the purple line, which leads to Northwestern University.
“This area has changed over the past five years with new buyers coming in, renovating units and bumping rents,” said Jake Parker, an advisor at Kiser Group. Parker said he expects the buyer to renovate amenities.
Brooklyn’s Greenstone Property Group sold a 188-unit condo-to-apartment conversion for $43 million in September, about 58 percent more than the $27 million it paid three years ago.
Tenants leased about 9,900 apartments in the city in the second quarter, according to Marcus Millichap’s most recent report. Urban submarkets, including Edgewater, accounted for two-thirds of all rentals for the 12 months ending in July. As students return to Chicago, Marcus Millichap projects a stronger performance in the city’s multifamily market in the second half of the year.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct photograph, headline and second paragraph to clarify that Exemplar Capital, based in Chicago, was the buyer.