Horizons at Rock Creek apartments sell for $250 million

The Horizons at Rock Creek apartments in Superior have been sold in the largest multifamily transaction in Colorado history.

In a deal that closed Monday, real estate investor Bell Partners of Greensboro, N.C., will pay about $250 million for the 1,206-unit luxury apartment complex to the southeast of U.S. 36 and South 88th Street.

It marks the first western U.S. acquisition for Bell Partners, whose $5 billion apartment portfolio is based primarily in the Southeast.

“They were looking for an opportunity to get into this market and establish a beachhead,” said Terrance Hunt, executive managing director of ARA, a Newmark Co., which brokered the transaction. “This was a prime opportunity for them to set up shop here.”

The 80-acre property features a 13-acre lake and a 24,000-square-foot clubhouse. Horizons at Rock Creek sits west of the Interlocken business park and the FlatIron Crossing mall in Broomfield.

“They will really be able to take advantage of the Interlocken market,” Hunt said.

The record-breaking transaction puts Colorado year-to-date sales volume — in terms of number of units — 27 percent ahead of last year, said Cary Bruteig, owner of Apartment Appraisers & Consultants Inc. in Denver. The year-to-date dollar volume now is trending 40 percent ahead of this time last year, he said.

Multifamily transactions totaled more than $3 billion in 2014.

“I see no reason to believe buyer appetite is going to drop off this year,” he said.

The complex has been renamed Bell Flatirons. The company is reviewing a potential renovation strategy for the property.

There were 20 competitive offers for the property, ARA officials said.

Horizons at Rock Creek was constructed in four phases from 1997 to 1999. The seller is an affiliate of Denver-based Simpson Housing, which developed the property in the late 1990s.

Simpson is co-developer of the 26-story, 354-unit SkyHouse apartments under construction on the site of the former Cosmopolitan Hotel at Broadway and East 18th Avenue. Simpson Housing also is developing the Hartley Flats at Twenty-Seventh, a 165-unit apartment complex at 2749 Walnut St., as well as Studio LoHi, a 114-unit apartment building at 2555 17th St.

The National Multi-Housing Council lists Bell Partners as the 11th largest apartment operator in the U.S. and has 1,600 employees.

“What it demonstrates, really, is the confidence the buyers have in this marketplace, not only currently, but also long-term,” said Becky Callan Gamble, president of Dean Callan & Company Inc., a Boulder-based commercial real estate firm.

ARA said only three Colorado properties have sold for a higher price: the Wells Fargo Center in downtown Denver, FlatIron Crossing mall in Broomfield and Park Meadows mall in Lone Tree.

Steve Raabe: 303-954-1948, sraabe@denverpost.com or twitter.com/steveraabedp

This online archive has been edited to correct an error in fact provided by a source. Bell Partners is the 11th largest apartment operator in the U.S. It has 1,600 employees.