NEWS HEADLINES

Aimco Unloading More Properties

By Dana Enfinger

Apartment Investment & Management Co. (Aimco) has placed 890 units in suburban Minneapolis on the sales block.

The Denver-based real estate investment trust (REIT) is selling three properties in any combination, and the communities are expected to net $85 million or $95,000 per unit. The move is part of the REIT's plan to get rid of $2 billion of apartment properties this year. It plans to use sale proceeds to buy back common shares and acquire projects in its core markets: Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., and other Mid-Atlantic cities. The assets the firm considers not-so-core are located in Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, Florida, and Texas. The company sold 7 percent of its total portfolio in 2007.

The assets in the offering are 95 percent leased and include studios up to three-bedrooms, and they were built between 1971 and 1986. Aimco owns four other Minneapolis properties that aren't up for sale -- at least not yet.

The communities up for sale are:

• The Woods of Burnsville, a 400-unit complex at 14071 Portland Ave. in Burnsville, Minn.;
• Raven Hill, a 304-unit complex at 13000 Harriett Ave. in Burnsville; and
• Silver Ridge with 186 units at 2330 Still Water Ave. in Maplewood, Minn.