Just Sold: Mankato apartments draw $230,337 per unit

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Editor’s note: “Just Sold” is a Finance & Commerce feature based on the newest certificates of real estate value filed with the Minnesota Department of Revenue for commercial sales throughout Minnesota and reports of sales across the country involving local parties. Research includes company and broker documents, online real estate listings, F&C archives, Catylist and other research.

M2 Lofts, an 89-unit luxury apartment building completed in 2016 in Mankato, sold Wednesday for $20.5 million in an off-market deal between two local family investment entities.

The price works out to $230,337 per unit, which Heidi Addo and Peter Michel of Michel Commercial say is believed to be the highest unit price ever recorded in the Mankato market. It is impressive even compared with the much larger Twin Cities market, where the average price per unit is $153,824, according to the Finance & Commerce Apartment Sales Tracker sat finance-commerce.com. The tracker has recorded the sale of 84,844 apartment units since Aug. 31, 2011.

Addo and Michel brokered the sale for two longtime clients.

“There were a lot of pieces to put together,” Addo said.

The key piece was the apartment building at 1050 Marsh St. and named M2 for its position between Madison Avenue and Marsh.

Business owners Kathy and Larry Van Tol designed the project for the growing medical community related to Mayo Clinic Health System Mankato, as well as other professionals and upscale snowbirds.

“They have the highest of high-end finishes,” Addo said, adding that units even have chandeliers and wine refrigerators. Rents for the one-, two- and three-bedroom units range from $1,435 to $2,260 per month.

After Larry Van Tol died in 2022, the Michel team started looking for options for the family. At the same time, Paulson Family Properties was looking for a new investment but wanted to sell two older properties in Crystal and Willmar and use the proceeds to create a 1031 exchange to help finance the acquisition.

The last transaction closed Wednesday.

Place: 1050 Marsh St., Mankato

Price: $20.5 million; 1031 exchange; $230,337 per unit

Buyer: Paulson Family Properties

Seller: Van Tol Properties

Date: 4-3-24

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