Azure Partners teams up with Harbor Group on Chicago luxury apartment deal

By Anthony Noto  –  Reporter, New York Business Journal

A New York private equity firm agreed to buy a Chicago apartment complex for $94 million, or $280,000 a unit.

Azure Partners is taking over the Oaks of Vernon Hills, a luxury apartment complex spread across 30 acres in the Lake County town, from the joint venture that recently developed it.

The property, a 336-unit development on U.S. Highway 45, is the first apartment acquisition in the Chicago area for Azure, according to Crain’s Business, which first reported the news.

To complete the purchase, Azure teamed up with Norfolk, Virginia-based real estate investment firm Harbor Group International.

Harbor Group oversees a sizeable portfolio of assets in its own right. Altogether, its properties are valued at roughly $4.4 billion. Harbor Group, which also has offices in New York and Tel Aviv, has holdings in excess of 5.1 million square feet of commercial properties and in excess of 25,000 apartment units.

On the sell side of the Vernon Hills deal was Chicago-based Reva Development, which jointly owned the property with Hamilton Partners of Itasca and Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, a unit of Deutsche Bank.

Average effective rents at the Oaks range from $1,505 per month for a one-bedroom units to $3,200 for a three-bedroom, the report continued, citing real estate date from CoStar Group.

Reva completed the sale while negotiating another transaction for six properties, with the intention of building a massive 48-unit apartment complex.

Meanwhile, Azure owns about 20 multifamily properties in the U.S., according to the company’s website. Over the years, the Midtown, Manhattan-based firm — under the stewardship of CEO Arthur Rosenberg — has purchased The Addison in New Jersey, the Grand Concourse in the Bronx and the Eaves Nanuet in Nanuet, New York.

Since its founding in 2010, Azure has acquired in excess of $1 billion of real estate in the multifamily and retail sectors.