Kiser Group recently brokered an Evanston portfolio for $17,025,000. The properties are located at 1940 Sherman Avenue and 829 Foster Street in Evanston, Illinois. The buyer, an undisclosed purchaser, bought the 87 apartment and 3 retail unit portfolio from Stephen Matic. The deal was brokered by Kiser Group’s Danny Mantis, broker, and Lee Kiser, principal and managing broker.
“The buyer does not plan on making these apartments a value-add play,” said Mantis. “Rather this is a buy-and-hold strategy for the investor.”
Stephen Matic and partners have owned 1940 Sherman Avenue since 1983 and 829 Foster Street since 2006. The majority of residents are Northwestern University students. The buildings are also in the same block as the CTA Purple Line Foster station. The buildings have historically high occupancy and consistently remain 100 percent leased.
“There was concern in the market that Northwestern’s new policy requiring sophomore (in addition to freshman) students to live on campus would affect the building’s occupancy and rent levels,” said Kiser. “However, these buildings have an exceptional location only one block from campus and the buildings have retained 100 percent occupancy.”
The Sherman Avenue property consists of 56 apartment units, a 16-car parking lot, a street-level office space, small indoor garage, income-producing storage spaces and one commercial tenant. The building is well-maintained and professionally managed. Half a block away, the 31-unit Foster Street building has two commercial tenants and a rear parking lot for the commercial tenants. The building was purchased through Kiser Group in 2006 and was gut renovated in 2007-2008.
