WASHINGTON, DC-A joint venture between Dune Real Estate Partners and Pantzer Properties has acquired eight apartment buildings in the area for $460 million. Jones Lang LaSalle brokered the transaction.

Jason Pantzer of Pantzer Properties tells me that it is the largest multifamily transaction in the nation outside of New York since 2008, citing JLL figures. Local brokers Scott Melnick and Al Cissel closed the deal. The seller is Magazine Holdings LLC, which had acquired eight of the 37 assets in Town and Country REIT’s portfolio. 

Pantzer Properties has a growing footprint in the DC area, Pantzer notes, due to the region’s fundamentals and high barriers for entry for development. It has partnered with Dune Real Estate before, more recently in a mezzanine loan transaction in Manhattan, financing the multifamily Icon portfolio.

This portfolio acquisition in the DC area is 95% occupied. The 50-50 joint venture assumed and modified the existing financing, Pantzer says. “Our management affiliate will be managing all eight properties and re-branding them under our regional brand know as the Point.”

The eight properties are: Barton’s Crossing in Alexandria, VA - 532 units; Carlyle Station in Manassas, VA - 408 units; Glen at Leesburg in Leesbug, VA - 134 units; Lionsgate in Herndon, VA - 328 units; Village at McNair Farms in Herndon, VA - 283 units; University Heights in Ashburn, VA - 467 units; Fox Run in Germantown, MD - 218 units; and Watkins Station in Gaithersburg, MD - 210 units. The story originally broke in the Wall Street Journal.