the janey

The Janey has 112 studio and one-bedroom units, 68 parking spaces and nearly 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

(Courtesy of Gallatin Public Affairs)

A Singapore-based investment group has purchased a Pearl District apartment complex for a record-setting sale price.

Portland's Columbia Investments and Washougal-based Lone Wolf Investments on Wednesday announced that they sold the Janey, a development on Northwest Everett Street between 11th and 12th avenues, for $45 million.

The price reflects a value of $647 per square foot - a Portland record, said Greg Frick, co-founder of HFO Investment Real Estate, which tracks local sales of multifamily properties.

"That's the record per foot, for sure," Frick said. "No doubt about it."

The Janey has 112 studio and one-bedroom units, 68 parking spaces and nearly 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, according to a news release published Wednesday. GBD Architects designed the development, which has rooftop decks and mechanized parking. The first phase, completed in 2012, is six stories tall. The expansion, completed this year, is three floors taller.

"We're very proud of this building," said Peter Stott, president of Columbia Investments, in the news release. "It's prime real estate in a thriving neighborhood, and we had every intention of holding onto it for the long run. But the quality and the location of the apartments proved to be a very attractive opportunity for the buyer."

The buyer was Singapore's Mapletree Group, a real estate investment firm that is in partnership with Los Angeles-based Oakwood Worldwide. The commercial real estate firm Berkadia helped broker the deal, representing the sellers.

"I'm not surprised, on a newer construction in the Pearl District, that we're setting a new price record right now in this market," Frick said. "Investor demand is really strong."

The sale is the latest in a record-setting year for the Portland multifamily market. By October, the region had already surpassed last year's all-time high of $1.6 billion in acquisitions and was on pace for $2.1 billion in sales on 250 properties by the end of the year. The flurry of sales come amid rapidly increasing rents and a historically low inventory of vacant units.

Earlier this year in the Pearl District, the Overton Pearl office building sold for $500 per square foot in a deal described at the time as "eye-popping."

Joe Nydahl, a director with Berkadia who helped close the deal, said Columbia Investments and Lone Wolf Investments originally did not want to sell the property, but the record-setting sale price convinced them otherwise.

Nydahl, pointing out that Oakwood Worldwide specializes in short-term executive housing, said the Janey is slated for future use as a temporary home for visiting employees at Portland-area companies.

The Portland Business Journal first reported on the deal.

*This post has been updated to include additional information from Berkadia broker Joe Nydahl.

This post has been modified to reflect the following correction: Due to incorrect information from a source, the story originally said the building is between 10th and 11th avenues. It is between 11th and 12th avenues.

-- Luke Hammill

lhammill@oregonian.com

503-294-4029

@lucashammill