HFF team handles Bluffs at Highlands Ranch sale

There is no doubt that the Sares-Regis Group of Irvine, California, knows all about the Bluffs at Highlands Ranch.

After all, Sares-Regis had been managing the 340-unit Bluffs at Highlands Ranch for its owner, JP Morgan.

Now, Sares-Regis is the owner of the community at 800 W. County Line Road.

Sares-Regis, through its $300 million Sara-Regis Multifamily Value-Add Fund II, recently paid $81.13 million to JP Morgan for the Bluffs at Highlands Ranch.

The sales price equates to $238,603 per unit.

JP Morgan, in September 2007, paid $47.57 million, or $139,897 per door, for the community, according to public records.

That means that JP Morgan had about a 71 percent return on its purchase price.

“JP Morgan did a great job through its ownership,” said Jordan Robbins, who marketed and sold the Bluffs at Highlands Ranch with fellow HFF broker Jeff Haag.

“This was a good value-add opportunity,” Robbins said.

“Because it was built in 1994, it has a value-add component,” he said.

Indeed, it has been averaging rental rates of $1.54 per sf for unrenovated one-bedroom units, while renovated units have been commanding $1.88 per sf.

Some nearby communities, by contrast, are getting rates close to $2 per sf for one-bedroom units, according to HFF’s research.

And two-bedroom units, with an average size of 1,041 sf, have been averaging $1.45 per sf, while nearby competitors are getting between $1.48 and $1.74 per sf for two-bedroom units.

Just because Sares-Regis managed it didn’t ensure it would be the winning bid.

“We had a ton of interest in it,” Robbins said.

“We probably toured it 25 times,” with prospective buyers, he said.