The Gates at Citiplace sell for $59.6M

Alexandria Burris | @allyburris

August 28, 2017

Another luxury multifamily development in Baton Rouge has sold at an incredibly high price.

The Gates at Citiplace Apartments sold for $59.6 million in a deal that closed Aug. 3.

The buyer is listed as David Werner Real Estate Investments of New York City.

Werner bought the property from its three previous owners—AVR Realty of Yonkers, New York; and KEG Trust and Dimension Development Company, both of Natchitoches.

Located on Corporate Boulevard near The Cottonport Bank, The Gates at Citiplace Apartments is one of a several Baton Rouge complexes recently purchased by an out-of-state investor for a hefty price.

An Atlanta buyer bought the flood damaged St. Jean Apartments on South Harrell’s Ferry Road for $33 million earlier this month. CLK Properties, a real estate management and development company from Woodbury, New York, purchased the Cypress Lake Apartments in May. The price: $43 million.

Last year’s flooding may be the reason out-of-state investors have zeroed in on Baton Rouge, says Craig Davenport, a commercial real estate appraiser with Cook, Moore & Associates.

Investors see opportunity in markets with limited housing, he says. The thinking may be that the demand for housing after the flood may have increased rents, says Davenport, noting that he hasn’t surveyed the rental market. He does note that out-of-state investors responded similarly after Hurricane Katrina.

“The flood certainly opened the eyes of a lot of people from around the country,” Davenport says. “I expect more deals to happen and more deals at that price. We’ve got a good market, and people in the rest of the country are aware of our market and the strength of our market.”

The Gates at Citiplace offers one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartment homes with fireplaces in select units, and private attached garages. Other amenities include a dog park, resort-style swimming pool and garden tubs.

It’s unclear why Werner—who has been described as an “under-the-radar Brooklynite”—purchased the development. A person who answered the phone at his Third Avenue office declined to comment on the sale.

The Gates at Citiplace may have been included in an 11-property portfolio AVR Realty sold to Werner and a business partner for $510 million. The portfolio includes properties across the Deep South and includes multifamily complexes in Bossier City and Slidell, according to The Real Deal, a New York-based real estate media company.

Werner—who’s reportedly known for his high-stakes real estate deals—was the biggest buyer of New York City real estate in 2014, The Real Deal reports. That year, he fetched two Manhattan office towers for a combined $2.37 billion, and AVR Realty sold him 5 Times Square for $1.5 billion.

—Alexandria Burris