Centerspace Latest Apartment Landlord Considering Sale

An apartment landlord with a five-figure unit portfolio in off-the-radar markets is exploring a sale of the business.

North Dakota-based Centerspace is considering its future options, Bloomberg reported. A potential sale is on the table as the company draws interest for a takeover, though that’s not guaranteed.

Centerspace did not respond to a request for comment from the publication.

Centerspace’s portfolio spans nearly 13,000 units. It’s in major Midwest cities, such as Denver, Minneapolis and Salt Lake City. But it’s also mining opportunities in places property investors consider less popular, such as Grand Forks, North Dakota, Billings, Montana and Rapid City, South Dakota.

Before news of the possible sale hit, shares of the apartment real estate investment trust had fallen by about 9 percent. Shares skyrocketed by as much as 14 percent on the news of the company exploring its exit options, the biggest intraday gain in the stock in more than two years. The stock closed at $65.99 on Tuesday, giving Centerspace a $1.1 billion market value.

Should Centerspace go down the sale route, it would be the latest REIT to change hands in recent months.

Last year, Blackstone made its biggest-ever investment in the multifamily sector, acquiring AIR Communities for approximately $10 billion. The AIMCO spinoff owned rental housing communities in coastal markets such as Boston, Los Angeles and Miami.

More recently, Pennsylvania-based Morgan Properties reached a deal to take a majority stake in Toronto-based Dream Residential REIT, an all-cash transaction that worked out to about $354 million. Morgan plans to take the company private.

And speaking of AIMCO, the Denver-based multifamily owner and operator announced plans this week to sell off all of its assets across the country as it prepares to go out of business. It’s down to a mere 15 assets.

— Holden Walter-Warner