Tobacco Row apartments sell for more than $100M in city’s biggest CRE deal of the year
The biggest real estate deal in the city limits this year came with just days left on the calendar as a major Shockoe Bottom apartment complex changed hands.
The River Lofts at Tobacco Row sold earlier this month to West Shore, an investment firm based in Boston.
The purchase price was more than $100 million, West Shore President Lee Rosenthal said. The exact sales price was not yet reflected in city land records as of press time, and Rosenthal declined to share specifics.
The River Lofts total 742 apartments across six historic tobacco warehouses at 2200-2600 E. Cary St. that were converted into apartments throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Also included in the deal was the Cutter’s Ridge townhomes at 2605-2627 E. Main St., and more than 5 acres of surface parking lots along Dock Street from 21st Street to Pear Street.
The seller, Brookfield Properties, came into owning the apartments by acquiring the lofts’ original redeveloper, Cleveland-based Forest City, as part of an $11 billion deal in 2018.
The deal was brokered by Berkadia’s Drew White, Carter Wood and Cole Carns. The properties were most recently assessed by the city at a combined $107.8 million.
The average unit size at the complex is 742 square feet, and as of last year the average rent was $1,500. The converted warehouses also count around 23,000 square feet of commercial space that’s chiefly occupied by Bookbinder’s Seafood & Steakhouse.
Founded in 2016, West Shore owns more than 16,000 units across 48 properties in the Sun Belt and Southeast. The River Lofts are its first property in Virginia. Rosenthal said expanding into Richmond felt like a “natural fit,” for the company.
The River Lofts first went up for sale in mid-2023 and were marketed as a value-add opportunity. The apartment complex made headlines earlier this year due to mold, flooding and water issues reported by tenants
Rosenthal said in January they’ll kick off a multimillion-dollar renovation on the apartments that’ll include updates to the common areas and amenities, roof and dropped ceiling replacements, and filtration systems updates.
“It’s rare that we see a transaction this large, where we can add significant, immediate value through renovations to improve the resident experience,” Rosenthal said. “(The renovation) is not a coat of paint and some new carpets.”
Brookfield spokespeople were not available for comment by press time.
Brookfield has been a seller locally in recent years. In 2021 it sold both the nearby Edgeworth Building and the Glen Forest Office Park, both of which it had owned via the 2018 Forest City acquisition.
The publicly traded firm is looking to continue selling, as earlier this fall it listed Chesterfield Towne Center for sale.
Even as the exact River Lofts sales price remains unknown, its $100 million-plus price tag more than doubles the city’s next-highest deal this year, which was the $35.5 million sale of The Villas at Cedarhurst apartments in the Southside.
The River Lofts are bookended by new for-sale residential developments along East Cary. At 2201 E. Main St., a former broom factory is being converted into a dozen condos. And at 2723 E. Cary St., local developer Jeremy Connell is building a quintet of four-story townhomes.
