La Mirage Apartments in Kent traded hands earlier this week in a $32 million deal that saw the property go for just over $148,000 per unit. The seller, according to public records filed with the county, is an entity associated with three members of the Goodman family (Dana, Shawn and Stephen Goodman), and the buyer was Seattle-based Goodman Real Estate, a privately-held multifamily and commercial real estate investment company founded by John Goodman.
The sale closed on July 12, 2018, according to public documents.
The property is a 216-unit, three-story development built in 1985, according to apartments.com, and it is located at 11239 SE 260th Street and in close proximity to the city’s downtown. It features a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, which according to the property’s website, go between $1,050 (studio) to $1,399 (two-bedroom).
The city of Kent has seen quite a bit of commercial and residential activity recently. Private and institutional investors have made bets in the city, which have bolstered property values. Just in June of 2018, TH Real Estate, a global commercial real estate player with $107 billion in assets under management across eighteen countries worldwide, invested $10.5 million, or approximately $165 per square foot, to acquire a 63,576 square foot property located at 7819 S 206th St. In April of 2018, LBA Realty, which operates a diverse array of office and industrial properties in major markets throughout the western U.S., acquired two warehouse/manufacturing buildings in Tukwila and Kent—as part of two separate transactions—for a combined $14.55 million.
On the residential side, Gelt Inc., a Los Angeles-based real estate investment and asset management firm, spent a combined $74 million to acquire two properties in Kent and nearby Federal Way. The purchase totaled 491 units at $150,712 per unit, combined. That was Gelt’s first acquisition in the Seattle market with a goal of owning another 2,500 units over the next two years, according to Keith Wasserman, partner with Gelt.
Goodman Real Estate has deep roots in the Pacific Northwest. John Goodman is a Seattle native, and he has been helping with the community outreach through his charitable giving. The company today manages over $2.5 billion in assets, which spans the spectrum of risk-adjusted investments in multi-family construction, hotels and resorts, office and retail buildings, land development and structured investments, according to the company’s website.