FPA invests in more rentals in Eden Prairie.

Byline: Matt M. Johnson

A California investor already heavily invested in Eden Prairie's apartment market has hunted down another complex to add to its inventory in the southwest metro suburb.

Irvine-based FPA Multifamily paid $17 million for the 114-unit Bay Point Apartments at 11185 Anderson Lakes Parkway, according to a certificate of real estate value made public on Oct. 8. The 35-year-old, three-story complex is the fourth that FPA has acquired in Eden Prairie in the past three years. The company now owns 1,156 apartments in Eden Prairie, according to the Finance & Commerce Twin Cities Apartment Sales Tracker.

Pete and Steve Michel with Minneapolis-based Michel Commercial brokered the off-market deal between FPA and Bay Point's seller, Hopkins-based Baypoint Lake Apartments LLP. The selling entity is controlled by Twin Cities investor Satya Garg. Garg paid $8.6 million for Bay Point in 2006 in another transaction brokered by Michel Commercial, Hennepin County property records show.

The latest sale, which closed on Oct. 8, works out to $149,122 per unit, which is above the $135,362 average selling price for 55,923 apartment sales tallied by the Finance & Commerce Twin Cities Apartment Sales Tracker since 2011. Hennepin County values the property at $13.75 million for tax purposes.

FPA did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the acquisition. Michel Commercial, which represented the seller in the deal, brought buyer and seller together thanks to the brokerage's history with both parties, said Pete Michel in a Wednesday interview. Michel brokered the sale of the 159-unit Atwood apartments to FPA in late 2016.

"They wanted to know what else was available in Eden Prairie," Michel said of FPA.

FPA has made several recent apartment purchases in Eden Prairie. The company purchased the 375-unit Parkway apartments at 13905 Chestnut Drive in Eden Prairie in February 2018 for $61.05 million. In September 2017, FPA paid $42.5 million for the 228-unit Watertower Apartmentsat 12300 Singletree Lane. The company bought its largest Eden...