UDR Selling $1.7B Portfolio

United Dominion Realty, Denver, is selling 25,684 apartment units in 86 communities for a total of $1.7 billion to a joint venture of DRA Advisors, a New York investment adviser, and Steven D. Bell & Co, a Greensboro, N.C.-based management company. After the transaction closes, the real estate investment trust expects to receive $1.5 billion in cash and a note for $200 million, bearing a fixed interest rate of 7.5%. The multifamily REIT will own 40,183 units in 146 communities after the sale goes through. "This transaction captures the disparity in value between private and public markets, and focuses the company in locations demonstrating high rent growth, strong job growth, and low single-family home affordability," said Thomas W. Toomey, UDR's president and chief executive officer. He added that the proceeds would be invested in share repurchases, debt paydown, new acquisitions, and development programs.