Southern Land Company, a national real estate developer of mixed-use developments and master-planned communities, and financial partner GTIS Partners have completed a sale of the multifamily and retail components of Rêve Boulder, a mixed-use community located in a Qualified Opportunity Zone (QOZ) at 30th & Pearl Streets in Boulder, Colo. Virtú Investments, a multifamily real estate investment firm primarily engaged in the management of apartment properties in the western U.S., purchased the development’s 242 multifamily housing units and 17,500 square feet of retail space from Southern Land Company and GTIS Partners for $151.25 million. The sale closed Thursday, February 25, 2021.
“The sale of Rêve Boulder’s apartment homes and retail units mark a significant turning point for us,” said Tim Downey, Southern Land Company CEO. “Rêve Boulder was our entrance to the dynamic City of Boulder, and we have worked diligently to ensure this project would be an excellent fit for the Boulder community. What we have found in Virtú Investments is not only a purchaser but an outstanding partner as well, who will see this project through and ensure it thrives.”
Tom Shapiro, President and Chief Investment Officer of GTIS Partners noted, “The sale of Rêve Boulder represents our first completed investment in an Opportunity Zone. We look forward to further building on our strategy of partnering with quality developers like Southern Land and dynamic cities like Boulder to the benefit of local communities and area residents.”
Rêve Boulder features a mix of rental options including micro, studio, efficiency, one, two and three-bedroom apartments, live/work residences and townhomes. Apartments range from 467 square feet for a micro apartment to 1,678 square feet for a rooftop penthouse. The live/work residences are two-story units that offer office space on the ground floor and living space upstairs – the perfect nesting ground for entrepreneurs. All apartment homes include a high level of interior finishes including quartz countertops, kitchen islands, stainless steel appliances, side-by-side refrigerators, washers and dryers, and outdoor balconies or terraces.
The community features a business center, club and game room, 24-hour advanced modern fitness center, flex room, outdoor fire pits, and a lushly landscaped pool deck with private gazebos and flat screen televisions. The project also includes more than 40 percent open space, including a park along the historic Boulder Slough irrigation channel as well as many pedestrian-oriented courtyards and plazas.
As a pre-finish sale, Southern Land Company, GTIS Partners and Virtú Investments will work together in the upcoming months to complete the construction of Rêve Boulder. Following completion, Virtú Investments will lease and operate the multifamily and retail units of the property.
“The Rêve Boulder acquisition represents an exciting opportunity to be a long-term provider of much-needed housing in downtown Boulder,” said Mike Green, Virtú Investments Managing Partner. “With its thoughtfully constructed, pedestrian-friendly layout and first-class amenity package for residents, we believe Rêve will serve as a vibrant hub for the Boulder community for years to come.”
Boulder’s rapid population and job growth has made the city an attractive market for real estate development. Supported by the presence of the University of Colorado Boulder Campus and major federally funded research laboratories, the city has become widely recognized as a center of innovation and has solidified itself as one of the nation’s leading technology hubs, attracting several major companies over recent years such as Google, Amazon, Twitter, and Apple.
Southern Land Company has additional projects in Colorado, including a multifamily apartment home community in Denver (Bespoke Uptown) and a single-family development in Erie (Westerly), which is expected to break ground later this spring. In 2018, Southern Land Company sold Centric LoHi, its first multifamily project in the Denver market.
GTIS Partners is also the financial partner for Southern Land Company on the Bespoke Uptown project in Denver. The firm has a long track record in residential real estate development across the nation. To date, Rêve Boulder is one of 12 qualified opportunity zone investments made by GTIS Partners.
For more information on Southern Land Company, visit: www.southernland.com.
For more information on GTIS Partners, visit: https://www.gtispartners.com/.
For more information on Virtú Investments, visit: https://www.virtuinvestments.com/.
