Investors Turn 61% Profit in Zephyr Street Apartments Sale

LAKEWOOD, CO-Family Homestead Inc., a nonprofit that provides subsidized housing for some of the poorest families in the Denver area, is paying $975,000, or $57,353 per unit, for the 17-unit Zephyr Street Apartments at 1325 Zephyr St. in Lakewood, a community west of Denver.

Local investors F.A. and Judy Baker had purchased the property in December 1997 for $605,000, according to public records examined by GlobeSt.com. That equates to a 61% profit after owning it for less than three years.

“It’s indicative of what is going on with this market,” says Terrance Hunt, the Grubb & Ellis broker who sold the property. “They sold a property built in 1961 for $57,000 per unit and traded it for a 54-unit project in Tucson. They paid $18,000 a unit for the Tucson property, which was a 1980s property. It shows you the difference between the two markets.”

Still, Zephyr Street Apartments is a perfect fit for Family Homestead, which Hunt says provides housing for people who often have just left shelters. The project is on a dead-end street near the intersection of two major roads, West Colfax Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard, and is next to a proposed light rail line.