Landmark area complex doubles in value
The sale of an apartment complex near the redevelopment of the former Landmark Mall indicates that home prices and rents will likely rise in that area.
Continental Realty Corp. (CRC) has completed the sale of 101 North Ripley Apartments for over $50 million. The complex has 189 units in four buildings at 101 N. Ripley Street across Van Dorn Street from the former shopping mall.
An affiliate of Baltimore-based CRC bought the property in 2011 for $23 million. Willow Creek Partners of Tysons purchased the complex, formerly known as Parkwood Court, for $50.1 million, CRC announced June 10.
Several years after acquiring the apartments, CRC renovated the complex, adding new windows and sliding patio doors, renovating common hallways and laundry rooms, and converting an under-utilized outdoor pool into a new parking lot with 45 spaces.
”Our team executed a great, value-add strategy at Ripley,” stated CRC CEO J.M. Schapiro in a press release. “We repositioned the asset into a high-quality, yet affordable housing option within a growing submarket.”
Landmark Mall is being demolished to make way for a new Inova hospital complex and a mixed-use development with multifamily housing, retail space, and a transit hub. CRC also touts the Amazon HQ2 project, which is expected to bring 25,000 new jobs to the area.
Related story: New details emerge on hospital at Landmark
According to the Washington Business Journal, Willow Creek plans to hold the property for the long term. In an email to WBJ, Willow Creek CEO Matt Brady called the Landmark Mall development, now branded West End, a “catalyst for that part of Alexandria.” That redevelopment, together with a “halo effect” from HQ2, “will spawn further interest in the West End of Alexandria.”
While other nearby properties that sold in the past few years showed strong gains in appreciation, WBJ says, CRC’s 118 percent gain in value is at the higher end of the spectrum.
One response to “Landmark area complex doubles in value”
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I am a tenant at this apartment complex. $50 million you gotta be kidding me. There has been an infestation of roaches and mice for years in a lot of the units. They have never fixed this issue. Along with a host of other issues it would take up too much space to write about it here. We have no gym, no pool, no clubhouse, no computer rooms, 2 handicap parking spots, and probably 7or 8 guest parking spots. I haven’t used that laundry room in years it was so nasty and doesn’t get your clothes clean. Please tell me how can 2 washer and dryers accommodate the amount of tenants that occupy each building. Come take a look for yourself and let me know does this complex look like it’s worth that much? We just found out 2 weeks ago that Willow Creek would be our new management. This is news to me that the old mgmt sold to Willow Creek back in June. So who is this Barkan mgmt property we have now? Make it make sense. If CRC sold to Willow Creek then why do we have somebody else as our property management? They can’t seem to fix a simple IT issue on our resident portal since June or July. We haven’t been able to see how much we owe in utilities since they took over. We’ve been paying what we think we owe. I don’t know if I’m paying too much or not enough. All we keep getting is their working on the portal. It should not take over 6 mos. to fix technical issues. Is this what 50 million get you?