California firm buys Southern Highlands complex for $64M

Logan Capital Advisors acquired the 255-unit Elysian at Southern Highlands, a townhouse complex not far from the M Resort. The $64.25 million sale, by developer The Calida Group, closed last month, property records show.

The purchase amounts to almost $252,000 per unit. Investors last year paid an average of about $105,600 per unit for Southern Nevada apartment complexes, according to brokerage Colliers International.

The sale comes as Las Vegas’ rental market keeps heating up with more construction, rising rents and a climbing tally of lucrative investor purchases.

Logan Capital founders Ruben Islas and Jules Arthur did not respond to requests for comment Monday.

Calida co-founder Eric Cohen said last week that the project, 12020 Southern Highlands Parkway, sits on land that was supposed to be developed by homebuilder D.R. Horton. According to Cohen, Texas-based D.R. spent $30 million on the site, putting in curbs, gutters, streets and utilities, but never built any homes.

With the economy weakening, the builder sold the property for $8.5 million in 2008 to New York investment firm Angelo, Gordon &Co., which sold it to Calida for $8.4 million in 2013, records indicate.

D.R. had planned to build and sell triplexes, Cohen said. His firm instead built two-story townhomes, all with an attached garage, a rare amenity for a Las Vegas rental complex.

Lately, it’s not the only property to sell for top dollar.

A Salt Lake City firm bought the Castile apartment complex in Henderson for $99.6 million, or $200,000 per unit, in April. Calida sold the neighboring Elysian at Stonelake for $84.6 million, or $235,000 per unit, in December, as well as Elysian West in the southwest valley for $106.5 million, or around $228,500 per door, last summer.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.