Memphis Business Journal: Meagan Nichols
The Blair Tower Apartments, located at 810 Washington Ave., was purchased Feb. 1 for $9.75 million by New York-based Hyde Capital. The new owner plans to give the building a $4 million facelift.
Yariv Ben-Sira, principal and owner of Hyde Capital, said the remodel will include updates to common areas and units, such as added amenities like a coffee bar and improvements to the rooftop pool.
The company also intends to capitalize on Blair Tower’s location by targeting medical students and interns. Currently 40 percent of Blair Tower tenants are in the medical field, and the company wants to grow that figure to 70 percent.
“You need to see that you aren’t interrupting the livelihood of tenants and, at the same time, you want to finish it as quickly as you can,” Ben-Sira said. “We are going to try our best to do it in a year, but every property is different, so maximum two years for the whole thing to be renovated.”
Ben-Sira said they will also reserve a few units for short-term leases that could be rented for one or two months. These units will be marketed towards the families of patients being treated in the surrounding hospitals.
Unit prices are expected to rise slightly after the renovations, but Ben-Sira said they have not finalized those numbers. Renovations are scheduled to start in a month.
“I think you see a lot of development in Midtown, and there is development going on Downtown,” Ben-Sira said. “I don’t think the Blair Tower area is right there. … This development of ours at Blair will take two years, and I think, in three or four years, you are going to see the whole area changing.”
Hyde Capital is also finalizing a contract on another piece of land located on Front Street. Ben-Sira would not give the exact address since the deal was not done, but said it was across the street from the Spaghetti Warehouse. The plan would be to do a ground-up construction of a new 160-unit apartment complex.
“Most likely a two tower with parking and a nice pool in between, but it is in the works,” Ben-Sira said.
Hyde Capital started buying properties in Memphis in 2013. They also have a footprint in Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga, with a combined total of 4,000 units across Tennessee.
Ben-Sira said they like doing business in Memphis because they are familiar with the area. Lennox Companies, a property management company for Hyde Capital, is headquartered in Memphis. Hyde Capital owns Lennox Companies.
“When you look, especially in Downtown Memphis, you see a lot of new development and you compare that to what I saw in Nashville three, four years ago. It is kind of the same thing, but smaller,” Ben-Sira said. “I think the Downtown development is great for the city.”
Link to the article: https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2016/02/25/blair-tower-to-be-remodeled-owner-also-in-talks-to.html
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