NORWALK, Conn. — Investors have turned a significant profit off their Norwalk West Avenue apartment buildings.
BQ Holdings LLC bought The Berkeley and Quincy Lofts, two buildings in the Waypointe complex, in February 2021 and sold them May 22 to Beachwold Residential LLC for $15 million more than it paid, according to City records.
Beachwold Residential also bought The Waypointe itself at a price of $208,129,500, which Waypointe I UT Holding LLC bought from the original developers in August 2020 for $157 million.
Beachwold’s purchase includes 662 apartments, approximately 68,000 square feet of retail space and 789 parking spots, according to a Cushman & Wakefield news release. It’s all of the big apartment buildings constructed recently off West Avenue.
The Waypointe District dates back at least 15 years, when developer Stanley Seligson hoped to fill almost 20 acres bounded by West Avenue, and Chapel and Academy streets with 350 new residential units, 75,000 square feet of office space and 393,174 square feet of new retail space, according to the Hour. In 2008, he pitched it as 1.1 million square feet of retail, housing and offices and predicted nearly $4.1 million in new property taxes each year. The goal was to create a “unique town center” for uptown Norwalk.
The project picked up steam when Paxton Kinol and Brandon Lacoff of Belpointe Real Estate got involved, and construction began in 2013. Apartments were available for leasing in 2015 as construction continued at Tea House Lofts, the Merwin Street component. Quincy Lofts opened in mid-2016 and The Berkeley came about a year later.
Left undone is the “South Block,” now called The Pinnacle. Demolition began on this West Avenue parcel, the former Loehmann’s Plaza, last week.
The first building constructed was dubbed simply, “The Waypointe.” Its companion on Merwin Street is “Tea House Lofts.” Both were owned under one management. Beachwold has bought them both, with the sale listing three properties: 515 West Ave., 33 Orchard St. and 11 Merwin St.
The Berkeley is at 500 West Ave., on the corner of Maple Street, and Quincy Lofts is down the block at 30 Orchard St. Until last year, they were under separate ownership and management.
Though the sister buildings were owned under separate LLCs since last year’s transaction, both Waypointe I UT Holding LLC and BQ Holdings LLC are connected to Invictus Real Estate Partners in Scarsdale, N.Y., public documents show.
BQ Holdings LLC bought The Berkeley and Quincy Lofts for $69.5 million on Feb. 8, 2021, and sold them to Beachwood for $85,129,500 on May 22.
Commercial Observer reports that Adam Neuman, former WeWork CEO, is involved in the Invictus win of a more than $66 million profit from the Waypointe block properties, less than two years after buying the original Waypointe, of which it already had a 10% share.
“The multifamily sector has been on fire from an investment standpoint these past two years, and the portfolio assets— located in Fairfield County, one hour from Manhattan— benefit from easy access to I-95 and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s South and East Norwalk train stations,” Commercial Observer reports.
“Neumann is reportedly looking to build an amenity-heavy rental brand, targeting younger renters. He also likely wanted something to depreciate so he could offset the taxes on his lucrative WeWork exit package,” The Real Deal reports.
Neumann’s golden parachute totaled $445 million, The Guardian reports.
Beachwold Residential is based in New York. “We presently control over 50 properties and more than 15,000 multi-family units in Connecticut, Texas, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Maryland, Tennessee and Virginia,” Beachwold states on LinkedIn.
As for Seligson’s promise of $4.1 million in property taxes from The Waypointe District, the City’s website indicates it’s close to coming true.
In January, Waypointe I UT Holding LLC paid more than $1.3 million in property taxes for Waypointe, according to the City’s website. That represents half the year’s bill. Sewer fees paid in January were more than $76,000.
BQ Holdings LLC paid more than $510,000 in property taxes for The Berkeley and Quincy Lofts in January, according to the City’s website. Again, that’s half the year’s bill. Sewer fees were more than $30,000.
The sales come six months after F.D. Rich Company, Spinnaker Real Estate Partners and Fuller Development sold their Harbourside Sono apartment complex at 123 Water St. for $55.5 million, which commercial real estate association NAIOP named “2021 Fairfield County Multifamily Sale of the Year.” Rich paid $2,675,000 for the property in 2016, then built the apartment complex.
A year ago, Avalon Bay sold its Belden Avenue Avalon complex for $103 million. Avalon Bay bought the property in 2008 for just under $10 million and then built 311 apartments.
Avalon East Norwalk was sold in March. City records show that the purchase price was $88.6 million; Avalon Bay bought the 8 Norden Place property in 2011 for $9.9 million, and then built the 240-apartment complex. The buyer, Boston-based DSF Group, will rebrand the complex as Halstead Norwalk, according to ReBusiness Online.
Updated, 6:41 p.m.: More information.
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