Amid a few weeks of rumors and hearsay, Downtown Austin Blog has confirmed that Windsor Communities has closed on their purchase of The Monarch apartment building from ZOM/ZRS. Back in 2007 ZOM was planning a 29 floor, 300+ unit building as a condominium along Shoal Creek (801 W 5th Street).
During construction, the national economy tanked. To the chagrin of several purchasers whose contracts would have to be cancelled, the Florida based developer astutely reset and decided operate the building as an apartment building. That has turned out to be a fortuitous decision.
It would have been difficult to predict how successful downtown Austin would be in weathering the recession. As it turns out, downtown Austin apartment rents have strengthened – a result of diminishing inventories and [relatively] tight lending standards still affecting the for-sale market.
The buyer, Windsor Communities, is on a roll. They also acquired the Legacy On The Lake back in April, which is recently operating at ~96% occupancy.
Thanks to Kenny Chan for the heads up!
