Denver real estate company buys Lexington apartment building for $12.2M

Denver-based real estate company Steele Properties LLC has acquired a three-story, 78-unit apartment building in Lexington for $12.2 million. It plans to begin renovating the complex in May, Steele Properties Communications Manager Lynn Haner says.

The community, Lexington House, is reserved for seniors and disabled persons in need of Section 8 affordable housing. Steele Properties specializes in acquiring, rehabilitating and reconstructing affordable housing units, and this is the company’s first acquisition in Virginia. 

Each of the 78 units will receive more than $56,000 worth of rehabilitation. Renovations are anticipated to begin in early May and are expected to take a total of nine months, Haner says, and will include external renovations as well as updates to drainage systems, parking lot paving, new HVAC systems, plumbing upgrades and electrical upgrades. A shared community room for tenants will feature an updated kitchen and a computer lab.

Residents will continue to live in the building during renovations, which will be completed a few units at a time, Haner says.

“This transaction, which will ensure that Lexington House remains affordable and in great physical condition for decades, demonstrates our continued commitment of preserving affordable housing,” Steele Properties President Chad Asarch said in a statement. 

The property had approximately only four vacant units, Haner says.

Built in 1977, Lexington House is a three-story building with one-bedroom apartments. It sits on approximately 2.3 acres at 130 Houston Street in Lexington. Washington and Lee University, Virginia Military Institute and Carilion Stonewall Jackson Hospital are each approximately 1 mile from the property.

Monroe Group, Ltd., Steele’s sister company, will oversee property management at the property.

The project is being financed with 4% tax credits from the Virginia Housing Development Authority, tax-exempt bonds from the Industrial Development Authority of the City of Lexington, permanent and construction financing by Redstone Tax Exempt Funding and tax credit equity by Raymond James.

Steele Properties was founded in 2006 and has since completed more than $1 billion in acquisitions, sales and development in 6,600 apartment units in 65 properties.