Draper & Kramer selling Lake Meadows apartments to Antheus

A vast Bronzeville apartment complex is changing hands and will mark the largest single Chicago multifamily property to trade since 2007, if the deal is completed.

Draper & Kramer is selling the nine-building, 1,869-unit Lake Meadows — spanning 75 acres from 31st to 35th streets between Lake Shore and Martin Luther King drives — to New Jersey-based Antheus Capital, Crain’s reported.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but it’s possible Antheus paid over $150 million for the property given the size of the complex and its 97 percent occupancy rate, the outlet reported.

The deal also reflects investors’ confidence in Chicago’s multifamily market, which is performing considerably better than other commercial real estate sectors. Plus, high interest rates and a tight lending climate are pushing property values down, even for apartments, allowing well-capitalized buyers to sometimes snag large properties at bargain prices, especially for assets tied to approaching debt maturities.

It’s far from the first big sale in recent years by Draper & Kramer, led by CEO Todd Bancroft. In March, the firm listed the 656-unit Eleven Thirty building on Michigan Avenue and the 275-unit Aspire on South Wabash. And in 2019, Draper sold the 1,675-unit Prairie Shores complex, also in Bronzeville, to Golub and Farpoint for just under $170 million, or roughly $100,000 per unit.

Meanwhile, Antheus continues to expand its Windy City portfolio, having now acquired nearly 5,000 units on the South Side since 2007, the outlet said. Its holdings include the 1,031-unit Regents Park, 330-unit Shoreland Apartments and 250-unit Solstice on the Park.

Lake Meadows was the biggest privately financed urban redevelopment project in the country

when it was built in the 1950s. The average rent was $2.22 last quarter, up nine percent from the same period last year. Monthly rent ranges from $998 for a studio to $3,624 for a four-bedroom unit, the outlet reported, citing data from CoStar.

— Quinn Donoghue

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