Buying 220 affordable apartments at once might seem like a lot, but when one considers the Twin Cities metro loses about 100 affordable units each week, the scale facing preservation buyers such as Minneapolis-based nonprofit Aeon becomes clear.
Aeon is one of several entities working to buy up so-called naturally-occurring affordable housing, or NOAH, to ensure such units remain affordable to low-income residents. On Friday, Aeon closed the purchase of a 220-unit portfolio of affordable apartment buildings, mostly in the Uptown area of Minneapolis. The sale was for $26.9 million, according to a certificate of real estate value.
“Our job, our goal, or reason for being, is to create and preserve as much affordable housing as possible,” Aeon President and CEO Alan Arthur said in an interview. “In the city of Minneapolis, this was a pretty large portfolio that we thought had promise to continue offering affordability to the community.”
Aeon’s purchase was financed in part with $4.5 million from the City of Minneapolis’ NOAH Preservation Fund, and an additional $350,000 from Edina. Aeon’s first mortgage for the sale was financed by Freddie Mac, Arthur said, with the NOAH Impact Fund through the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund providing most of the remaining equity.
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