Local firm pays $34M for two downtown apartment properties

A local real estate firm has paid a total of about $34 million to buy two downtown apartment buildings from Milhaus Development LLC.

Carmel-based Birge & Held Asset Management LLC closed Thursday on the sale of the 105-unit Maxwell and Friday on the 65-unit Mozzo, company president Andrew Held told IBJ.  

Held declined to divulge the purchase prices, but sources familiar with the deals said the company paid $20 million for the Maxwell and about $14 million for Mozzo.

“We really liked the locations and their positions in the market,” he said. “You have a lot of newer product that’s coming on line. These are a little bit older but still nice projects.”

The Maxwell, at 530 E. Ohio St., is a five-story, contemporary art deco building that also features 11,000 square feet of ground-level office space.

The building was developed in 2008 by locally based Kosene & Kosene for $24 million and was originally planned to house condos. The property currently is assessed at $15 million.

After demand for new condos softened during the residential downturn, Kosene & Kosene in 2009 converted the residential units into apartments and turned over management to Barrett & Stokely.

Kosene & Kosene also attempted to renegotiate a loan with Star Financial, which ultimately took possession of the property. Milhaus and locally based Gene B. Glick Co. bought the Maxwell in late 2010.

Milhaus had its office at the Maxwell before moving in 2015 to a historic building the developer bought at 460 Virginia Ave. in Fletcher Place and nearly across the street from Mozzo at 531 Virginia Ave.

Milhaus developed Mozzo for $5.8 million. It opened in 2013 and replaced a former BMV branch and parking lot. It is currently assessed at $6 million.

Both the Maxwell and Mozzo are roughly 97 percent occupied, Held said. Monthly rents at both range between $1,000 and $1,200.

With the two acquisitions, Birge & Held now owns and manages more than 6,000 units, including 1,600 units it bought this year.

The Maxwell and Mozzo differ from Birge & Held’s other suburban, garden-style apartment properties, Held said. Despite its two most recent acquisitions, the company has no plans to stray from its bread and butter.

“I think we’ll stick, for the bulk of our acquisitions, to the B-type deals,” Held said. “Bigger groups will hunt downtown Class A. It’s a tough space to be competitive in.”

Last September, Birge & Held paid about $75 million to acquire the 740-unit Lakeshore Apartments complex on East 82nd Street west of Allisonville Road—at the time representing the single-largest apartment transaction the Indianapolis market has ever seen.

Held founded the firm in 2008 with real estate developer Tag Birge.

Milhaus, meanwhile, in February put its 12-property apartment portfolio on the market.

Altogether, the package includes 2,195 apartment units in six markets that have all been developed and built by Milhaus since 2013, except for the Maxwell.