Empire Realty Partners Trust has sold Glen Oaks Commons, a 504-unit apartment community in Des Plaines owned by the company for more than 30 years. A company associated with Skokie-based F & F Realty paid $74 million for the property at 9700 Sumac Road in the northwest suburb, according to Cook County property records.
Neither Empire nor F & F returned calls seeking comment.
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Although New York-based Empire was a longtime owner, its sale of the seven four-story buildings isn’t a surprise. Suburban apartments are trading hands at a quickening pace as climbing rental rates bring out new investors.
“The rent growth for apartments has been really strong, and that’s been attracting investment dollars,” said Ron DeVries, senior managing director of Integra Realty Resources, a real estate appraisal firm.
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Other big recent sales in the area include Ansonia Property Management’s $49 million purchase in June of the 264-unit Mandalane Apartments at 450 Manda Lane in Wheeling, according to CoStar, and Bayshore Properties’ $49.8 million purchase of the 344-unit Mount Prospect Greens at 2000 W. Algonquin Road in Mount Prospect.
All three were built in the 1970s, according to CoStar.
“Some of these older properties can be quite attractive because the owners can do some renovations,” DeVries added.
That means apartment communities could get upgraded amenities, as well as upgrades to their units, but it could also eventually mean even higher rents.
Rents in Des Plaines, Arlington Heights and other nearby towns, which have more than 18,000 apartments, are on the rise, jumping 8.3% in the last year, CoStar found. Renters began flooding these suburbs at the start of the pandemic. The vacancy rate was nearly 10% in early 2020, but by the middle of 2022 sank to 3.6%.
Fifty-one apartment communities in the Des Plaines-Arlington Heights corridor traded hands in the past three years, according to CoStar, and the velocity of sales is accelerating. In 2019 and 2020, investors spent about $70 million on apartments, but in 2021, spent more than $240 million.
brogal@chicagotribune.com
