Antheus paid over $160M for Lake Meadows apartments

Antheus Capital dropped well more than nine figures on buying Bronzeville’s Lake Meadows apartments.

A venture led by the New Jersey-based firm bought the 1,869-unit complex for $161 million from Draper & Kramer in May, amounting to roughly $86,100 per unit, Crain’s reported. The sale marked the largest single multifamily property to trade in terms of total units in the Chicago area in over 15 years.

When the acquisition was first reported, a source familiar with the deal speculated that Antheus paid at least $150 million for the property, which had been owned by Draper & Kramer since the 1950s. A sales price closer to $150 million still would have been an eye-popping number in today’s market, but the fact that it crossed the $160 million threshold exemplifies investors’ faith in Chicago’s multifamily market.

The deal also showcases two firms moving in different directions. Draper has been in the process of offloading its holdings, as it sold the 1,675-unit Prairie Shores complex, just south of Lake Meadows, for $180 million in 2019. And it recently put two other apartment buildings up for sale: a 656-unit high-rise at 1130 South Michigan Avenue and a 275-unit building at 2111 South Wabash Avenue.

Antheus, meanwhile, continues to expand its South Side apartment holdings, with nearly 7,000 units in its portfolio. The firm financed the Lake Meadows purchase with a $96 million loan from JLL Real Estate Capital.

Antheus’ acquisition comes as the Bronzeville area is poised for transformation, with a team known as GRIT Chicago led by Farpoint Development set to start a yearslong, multi-phase redevelopment of the former Michael Reese Hospital site by the Prairie Shores property that could cost between $4 billion and $8 billion and add 7 million square feet of commercial space to the neighborhood.

Other large Chicago apartment transactions to have recently closed include Green Cities’ $98 million purchase of the 329-unit Lake & Wells building at 210 North Wells Street.

And in March, Rai Sahi’s Morguard North American Residential paid $81 million for the luxury  Xavier Apartments at 625 West Division Street in the Near North Side area. With 240 units, that sale amounted to about $337,000 per unit.

— Quinn Donoghue

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