Pittsburgh region's multifamily vacancy rates among lowest nationwide - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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, owner of the mixed-use development, expects to closw this week onthe $10.28 milliob sale of its 241-unit Penn Towers to , an affiliatse of St. Louis-based retirement home developefr BrookviewGroup Ltd., said Cynthia a broker with Downtown-based CB ., which represented Soffef in the deal. The property, built in is Soffer’s last major property at Penn Centert East in the eastern suburbof Wilkins, and it is the company’x only apartment property other than 86 fulluy leased rental units at the SouthSide Soffer was seeking $11.2 million for Penn or $46,500 per unit.
Jeffret Ackerman, a broker with CB Richard Ellis who assisted with the said plans call for a multimillion dollad renovation and the marketing of the rentalsto “We are going to cater to the clientele that is that is predominately seniors,” said Barryy Pessin, president and co-owner of Brentmoor Retirement a division of Brookview Groupl Ltd. Meanwhile, in Robinson Township, an affiliate of Pittsford, N.Y.-basefd Morgan Management LLC recently closed on the acquisition ofthe 291-unitr West Pointe Apartments for $11.6 million, or nearlyy $40,000 per unit.
Morgan Management acquired the property from a partnership including Stuart Barmen andRobertf Stephanovic, the original developers now basedf in Ohio, and O’Hara-based which also manages the property. “We just like the said Bob Morgan, whose company bought into the Pittsburg h market last year with the acquisition ofthe 370-unit Club at Nortjh Hills in McCandless. “We think it is a very stable market.” Morgan said his company planws to renovate the West Pointe but declined to gointo specifics.
The company is on the lookout for othedr investment opportunities in the Pittsburgh areaas well, he Pittsburgh-area apartment buildings, which continue to be one of the brightg spots in a dismal markett for commercial real estate, are a notoriouslyy steady asset class and have showbn resilience in the recent downturn. “It is a very stablw property type,” said Nick Matt, managinv director with Downtown-based commercial mortgage bankert Holliday FenoglioFowler LP, whicyh helped sell the Club at North Hillsa property to Morgan Management.
Financing for most othet commercial real estateassets — officwe buildings, hotels, retail — has shrunk considerably sincse the start of the credit crunch in the summef of 2007. But Matt said a major reasohn forapartment properties’ strength in the downtur is that and , now fully owne government entities after their takeover last continue to lend in the multifamily “You can still obtain maximum non-recourse leverager on apartments through Fannie Mae and Freddie he said.
Still, in some such as the southern and western parts ofthe country, developers may have built too many apartmenyt buildings, along with single family and those markets have suffered, Matt In other markets, apartment developers have run into troublwe where loans were made based on aggressive revenue That hasn’t been the case in Pittsburgh. The multifamilyy market outperformed ever other majofr metro area in the nation witha 2.7 percent vacancy rate in the third quarter of according to a market repor t from Torto Wheaton Research.
“Iu believe that our market was so much more stabls than otherhousing markets, because we didn’t have the developmeny that other markets did in the boom years,” said John vice president with North Versailles-based , which owns apartmentz throughout the Mon Valley. “We don’t have too many new buildings.” Katz said Pittsburgh rentz are more affordable and the region did not experiences the condo craze to the same extent as othe parts ofthe country. Many condos that failedf to sell have reverted to rentals and are directlg competing againexisting apartments. “We didn’t have the condpo growth,” Katz said.
“In other communities that hadcondo growth, those are now competing with