𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬. 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧. The Lofts at Twenty25 in Atlanta just sold for $90 million. In 2022, it sold for $136 million. Nothing about the concrete changed. The iconic population sign out front still ticks upward. What changed was timing and basis. The new owners agreed to preserve more than half the units for renters at or below 80 percent of area median income. In exchange, they received 25 years of full property tax exemption, a $10 million city loan, and nonprofit capital support. I remember underwriting this deal the first time it came to market. It was complicated in ways that models struggle to capture. Housing authority approvals that controlled the future of the site. A requirement to add another low-income project on the parking lot to change the profile. Land in front that likely needed to be sold to an office developer to make the math close. Our offer carried contingencies tied to approvals we did not control. We did not get close. We walked. At the time, that felt like a loss. It wasn’t. The buyer after us renovated the building heavily and pushed it as luxury. Rates moved. Capital tightened. The exit window shut. A $104 million loan default followed. Ownership changed hands. This building has history. It was Atlanta’s first postwar apartment high rise, built for the workforce. The population sign was installed in the 1960s by Ted Turner and still defines the corner today at The Lofts at Twenty25. Today’s buyers can preserve affordability because their basis gives them room to breathe. The same building at the wrong price becomes fragile. The same building at the right price becomes flexible. Sometimes the best deal you ever do is the one you walk away from. https://lnkd.in/eKNhVuhp