Sentinel Sells 278-Unit Three Lakes Apts

Three Lakes is at the corner of 119th Street and Highway 69. The property is considered "class B+", according to the seller's broker, Mac Crowther, a principal with Atlanta-based Apartment Realty Advisors. The complex is 93% occupied, he says.

Amenities include enclosed entries, a fitness center with swimming pool and heated spa, lake views, a clubhouse, private patios and balconies, fireplaces and individual storage rooms. Crowther says the property is in a better market area in Overland Park than the Lakes at Liongate North and South apartments, both which have about 360 units each, that Sentinal sold to Midwest Diversified in August 2007 for about $88,000 per unit. Those two complexes are at 6704 and 6705 W. 141st St. "That corridor is an aberration in this market, they've built way too many units there and aren't doing that well, that's why those properties sold for so low," he says.

Regardless, the local market is still strong for multifamily, Crowther says. "The occupancies are in the mid-90s, and rent growth is a stable 4%. Concessions are pretty much gone. The beauty of the Kansas City market is while we don't get the huge spikes in rent growth, we don't get large troughs either, it's a very predictable market that grows at a nice pace, we only have hiccups if someone comes in and builds too much," he says.

Crowther tells GlobeSt.com that Sentinel sold the 21-year-old complex at its normal time. "They had it seven years, they're following their normal course of business," he says. "It's somewhat value-add, good for a buyer who wants to do some upgrades to move it up to a class A property, which the buyer plans to do. It's in good physical shape, and is on an infill location." The complex was not acquired through Sentinel's $532-million takeover of the America First Apartment Investors Inc. REIT in September 2007, though the company did gain another Overland Park apartment complex in that deal, Crowther says.