Buckingham, partner invest in Zionsville apartments

Local developer Buckingham Cos. is part of a joint venture that plans to renovate and expand a Zionsville apartment complex.

Buckingham joined forces with Maryland-based real estate investment manager Alex. Brown Realty Inc. to acquire the 168-unit Quail Run Apartments, located off Ford Road north of the Boone Village shopping center. Buckingham has managed the property since 2011.

The partnership also bought 8.75 acres of adjacent land where it plans to build 132 garden-style apartments.

ABR Chesapeake Fund IV, a real estate fund sponsored by Alex. Brown, invested $7.5 million in the venture, according to a statement released Thursday. terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Quail Run includes 148 townhouse units and 20 one-bedroom units on a 14.5-acre site. The new owners said the occupancy is strong at 96 percent.

The joint venture plans to finish renovating existing units over the next 24 months, but the new apartments should be completed by the summer of 2015.

“We continue to be impressed by Zionsville’s market fundamentals,” Buckingham CEO Brad Chambers said in the statement, citing its “outstanding public school system and small-town charm.”

The Quail Run project is the first collaboration between Alex. Brown and Buckingham.  Fannie Mae financed the acquisition, and Centier Bank is funding the expansion.

As IBJ reported in March, Buckingham has shelved plans for a key property it controls in downtown Zionsville. The former site of a Citgo gas station, the 2.4-acre parcel at Main and Sycamore streets has been vacant since 2008.

The developer never publicly shared any plans for the site, but Buckingham went back to the drawing board after having preliminary conversations with town leaders and staff.

Now the property is available for a lease. Marketing materials from Cassidy Turley suggest the site would be “perfect” for a bank and/or restaurant serving the nearby Village Business District along Main Street.

A proposed site plan shows a 5,100-square-foot building at the intersection and a 4,000-square-foot facility to the south.