The Mogharebi Group (TMG) has advised a Colorado-based private investment group on its sale of Fireside Village, a 180-unit multifamily community in Omaha, NE to ARTISAN Capital Group.

The multifamily transaction, one of the largest by unit count to close in metropolitan Omaha this year, according to CoStar data, represents the seller’s exit and the buyer’s entry into the Nebraska market, according to Mogharebi Vice President Scott Koethe. 

“Omaha benefits from wonderful fundamentals – great schools, strong local economy and safe neighborhoods, which has resulted in a buyer pool that is large and growing,” said Koethe, an Omaha native.   “Wanting to divest itself of its multifamily holdings to concentrate on medical office, our client engaged us to leverage our significant relationships with these buyers to sell the property.   As a result, we were able to generate 18 offers and ultimately went with the most qualified buyer in ARTISAN Capital Group.”  

Fireside Village is the first acquisition in Nebraska for Chicago & Des Moines-based ARTISAN Capital Group, whose portfolio includes more than 6,500 multifamily and student housing units throughout the Midwest and Nevada.  In partnership with Guardian Capital, the transaction, which needed to close before the July 4th holiday, was the upleg of a 1031 Exchange that included the assumption of an attractive sub-5% Agency loan with five years remaining on the term, according to Koethe.

“This was a very complex transaction with a lot of moving parts and a very tight deadline,” Koethe said.  “Our proprietary 1031 Exchange platform combined with our experience with the complicated loan assumption process, allowed us to close on time and help both parties meet their business objectives.”  

 “ARTISAN is thrilled to enter the Omaha market with the acquisition of Fireside Village, soon to be rebranded as Wildewood Commons.  We have been blown away by the warm reception from the City of Ralston and look forward to contributing to the local community in a positive manner,” added Ryan R. Cahalan, “The ARTISAN Team is eager to get to work on making renovations to the property and we look forward to growing a portfolio of apartment communities throughout the Omaha metro.”  

Located at 8214 Wilson Dr., in Ralston, a popular suburb less than a 15-minute drive from Downtown Omaha, Fireside Village offers a diverse mix of floor plans ranging from studio to two-bedroom apartment homes housed in 11 residential buildings on a 5.5-acre site.   Community amenities include a sauna, fitness center, playground, dog park, business center, detached garages, & laundry facilities.    The property was 75% occupied at closing. 

Built in 1972, only one-third of the units have been renovated providing the buyer with a tremendous value add opportunity, according to Koethe.  

The Mogharebi Group (TMG) has arranged the $25.2 million sale of Trails at 2112 Apartments, a turnkey 97-unit multifamily community in the Central Valley city of Modesto, CA. Executive Vice President Otto Ozen and Senior Vice President Brian Nakamura represented the seller, Berkeley-based Valiance Capital  in the transaction.

Located at 2112 Floyd Ave., the property comprises a desirable mix of studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units ranging in size from 550 to 950 square feet. After acquiring the 1985-built property through TMG three years ago, Valiance invested nearly $2.9 million in capital expenditures to transform the property into a market-defining luxury asset. All units were fully renovated with contemporary features such as in-unit washers and dryers, quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, white cabinetry, and dual-pane windows. Common area improvements included resort-style pool upgrades, fitness center renovations, a new dog park and wash station, HVAC replacements, exterior enhancements, and more.

“Despite rising interest rates, high inflation, and other economic uncertainties, we generated significant interest in the property and procured nine qualified offers,” said Ozen. “We sourced a strong exchange buyer and ultimately closed at just under $260,000 per door, setting a high price for a deal of this size and underscoring our position in the market.” said Ozen.

The transaction set a new high watermark for apartment assets of this size and vintage in Modesto, according to CoStar data. As a leader in multifamily investment advisory since its founding in 2015, TMG has closed on more than 2,600 apartment units in Modesto specifically and over 10,000 units in the Central Valley region, with a total value exceeding $1 billion.

“Through our firm’s presence in Modesto—where we maintain the largest market share—and ability to tap into 1031 Exchange buyers, we were able to drive considerable value for the property and help our client achieve their business plan with a nonrefundable deposit at the open of escrow,” added Nakamura. 

The buyer, a private family office that is an active owner on the West Coast, recognized the opportunity to achieve economies of scale and leveraged the acquisition by assuming an attractive fixed-rate agency loan with five years of interest only and a 10-year term.

The Mogharebi Group (TMG) has arranged the $50.5 million sale of The Landing Apartments, a 156-unit multifamily community in Ontario, CA. 

Located at 3364 Honeybrook Way, The Landing is a garden-style apartment community with a desirable mix of 53% two-bedroom and 47% one-bedroom units ranging from 704 to 1,108 square feet. The well-amenitized community features in-unit laundry, a pool and spa, a tennis court, carport parking, and a private-access community lake. 

Alex Mogharebi, Otto Ozen, and Bryan LaBar represented the seller in the transaction—an Orange County-based family that owned the property for more than 20 years.   

“Despite a very challenging capital markets environment, we were able to generate more than 20 offers on The Landing, ultimately selling the legacy asset to a Los Angeles-based investor at a sub 4.5 percent cap rate,” said Ozen. “Investors were attracted to the multiple levels of growth potential for this extremely well-located community including the ability to capture significant rental upside with a value-add plan focused on interior renovations.”

Ontario continues to exhibit favorable multifamily fundamentals driven by significant increases in population growth and limited supply, according to LaBar.

"The Landing generated significant investor interest due to its location in the path of growth and adjacency to the Ontario Ranch development," LaBar added. "There is little relief for the current supply-demand imbalance with very few new units scheduled to be delivered in the foreseeable future, so The Landing represented an excellent opportunity to fill the need for well-located, quality rental housing."

Founded in 2015, The Mogharebi Group is one of the leading multifamily brokers in the state of California, according to real estate research and advisory firm Green Street. TMG has been involved in closing almost 10,000 units in the Inland Empire with total value nearing $2 billion.

The Mogharebi Group (TMG) has been awarded the 2023 CoStar Impact Award for Monterey County Sale of the Year through its representation in the $9.25 million sale of the 92-unit Plaza Grande Apartments community in Salinas, CA.

CoStar Impact Awards recognize exemplary commercial real estate transactions and projects with significant influence in neighborhoods or submarkets across 128 major markets in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The award celebrates commercial real estate practitioners that have brought leadership, innovation, and professionalism to their markets by spotlighting commendable transactions and projects.

"The Plaza Grande Apartments addresses the huge universal need for affordable housing," said Cannery Row Co. Chief Operating Officer William Grimm, who served as one of the judges for the award. “Not only does it preserve options for lower-income renters, but the buyer is also able to benefit from considerable tax advantages thanks to the property's location in an Opportunity Zone.”

“Even though rising interest rates have dramatically hampered the real estate market, we were able to attract multiple competitive offers by marketing the numerous long-term benefits of ownership,” said TMG Executive Vice President Otto Ozen, who brokered the transaction along with Vice President Nazli Santana.

Surrounded by rich farmland that supports a $2 billion agricultural industry and only an hour and 45 minutes south of San Francisco, Salinas has seen a dramatic increase in demand for workforce and affordable housing. According to CoStar, multifamily vacancy rates in the area have dropped to approximately 3% over the past year.

The Mogharebi Group (TMG) has arranged the $11.4 million sale of the 92-unit Northbrook Apartments in Fresno, CA.

Located at 584 E. Bullard Ave., Northbrook Apartments is a single-story, garden-style apartment community with a unit mix of one- and two-bedroom floor plans ranging from 700 to 900 square feet. The property was built in 1972 on 6.01 acres and features two swimming pools, and private enclosed patios. Northbrook’s superior location in northeast Fresno is within 10 minutes of area demand drivers such as Fresno State, River Park Shopping Center, and Fresno Yosemite International Airport.

Robin Kane, Brendan Kane, and Gordon Larkin of TMG’s Fresno office represented the Monterey-based owner/developer in the transaction. Offered on the market for the first time in more than 24 years, the asset was acquired by a Central Valley family office.

“Northbrook drew significant investor interest due to its quality construction, prime location, and upside potential,” said Robin Kane. “With their experience in the Fresno market, the buyer recognized the opportunity available to maximize revenue by improving the loss to lease and aligning rents with market.”

The transaction marks the second Fresno apartment deal closed by the TMG team in less than two weeks. The sale of 49-unit Birch Commons recorded one of the highest prices per door ever paid for a multifamily community in Fresno.

Despite current market conditions, deals have still been transacting—especially on small- to mid-cap multifamily assets in Los Angeles. The $7.15 million sale of 30-unit Gramercy Townhouse in the booming Koreatown neighborhood is yet another indication of this trend, according to Vice President Keon Truth of The Mogharebi Group (TMG), who represented the sellers in the transaction.

Truth specializes in the Los Angeles multifamily market and plays a key role in TMG’s prominence in the region. “Even with uncertainty in the capital markets, deals are still happening, and we are procuring multiple offers from a wide variety of investors who seek the protection that multifamily assets offer,” said Truth.

Located at 430 S. Gramercy Place, Gramercy Townhouse is a three-story apartment building with a mix of studio, one-, and two-bedroom units. A major draw of the property is its highly walkable location just 10 minutes from the Wilshire/Western Station of the Metro D (Purple) Line, which is currently being extended from Koreatown to Westwood with planned stops in Beverly Hills and Century City. 

The sellers, a private family based in Los Angeles, held the property long term and were ready to reposition their holdings into more passive investment avenues. Like many active owners this year, they faced the impending Measure ULA tax. The Measure, which went into effect on April 1, 2023, established a 4.0% tax on the transfer of real estate valuing more than $5 million. Had the sellers not completed the transaction beforehand, it would have been subject to the new tax.

“Once in escrow, we were able to close in 22 days to meet our clients’ deadline,” said Truth. “We structured a deal that achieved their investment objectives despite shifting buyer sentiment and the uncertain lending environment.”

Meanwhile, the buyer was a local family office that strategically acquired a prime asset that hadn’t touched the market in decades and will, in turn, capture tremendous value-add upside.

In just the last two months, The Mogharebi Group has been instrumental in arranging the sales of four other small- to mid-cap multifamily properties in Los Angeles. These transactions included closing on 28 units in Boyle Heights for $6.5 million (represented by Mike Marcu and Otto Ozen) and 27 units near Hollywood for $7.2 million (represented by Mike Marcu and Nazli Santana). The market has shown that buyers who might typically invest in large deals are increasingly turning to smaller multifamily assets given the uncertain conditions and increased cost of capital.