Broe Real Estate Group buys 204-unit San Diego tower in all-cash deal

Broe Real Estate Group has acquired 525 Olive, a 20-story, 204-unit apartment building in San Diego's Bankers Hill neighborhood, in an all-cash transaction that closed in 60 days, according to IREI.

BREG is the real estate affiliate of The Broe Group, a Colorado investment firm that IREI describes as multibillion-dollar.

IREI describes the deal as The Broe Group entering Southern California as part of a billion-dollar multifamily initiative at the firm.

"525 Olive is San Diego's premier luxury living community in San Diego's most desirable submarket," Milan Gutesha, senior vice president of investments at BREG, said in the IREI report. He said the city's economy, workforce and quality of life "made this market a priority for our multifamily expansion," adding that the firm continues "to explore further market expansion."

The building opened in August 2022 and won CoStar's 2023 multifamily project of the year, according to IREI. IREI describes it as a class AA property on an elevated mesa beside the 1,200-acre Balboa Park, topped by the 20th-floor SkyClub rooftop retreat — a swimming pool, sun club and lounge — above views of the downtown skyline and San Diego Bay.

Walker & Dunlop's Hunter Combs advised on the transaction, according to IREI. An all-cash structure keeps a lender's underwriting and loan closing off the calendar, which likely helps account for the 60-day timeline; the coverage does not say how the buyer funded the purchase.

What the report leaves out is the price and the capitalization rate, so the basis BREG paid cannot be measured against the rents the building supports.