Munjoy South Apartments, built in 1967, consists of 140 units spread among 29 townhomes on Portland’s East End.
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The $18.75 million sale of Munjoy South Apartments in Portland is the largest multifamily sale so far this year.
Munjoy South Apartments LLC and Friendly Mobile Home Park LLC bought the 140-unit property, located on 8.7 acres at 37 Fore St. and 27 Mountfort St., from Munjoy South Townhouses LLC.
Joseph Porta, Vince Ciampi and Timothy Millett of Porta & Co. brokered the transaction.
“It’s a sizeable deal in a prominent location downtown,” said Millett.
Affordable housing
The 140 units are spread among 29 townhomes. When completed in 1967, it was Maine’s largest affordable housing project, funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s low-income housing tax credit program.
The seller’s limited liability corporation is owned by a partnership that includes Portland-based LIHC Investment Group, SHP Management Corp. in Cumberland and individual investors. SHP provided onsite management.
The sellers purchased the property in November 2018 and sold it because it’s LIHC and SHP’s only asset in Maine and an outlier for their management staff resources, Millett said.
The assets are in need of major capital improvement.
“It’s an evolving neighborhood and the subject property, being an 8.7-acre site, is a considerable piece of land in a highly desirable area where future affordable and safe housing for 140 individuals and families will be maintained,” Millett said.
Off-market deal
The buyers are Rylee Knox and Collin Van der Veen, the principals of Gurnet Real Estate Group, a Boston and Portland real estate investment and management company whose mission is to deploy capital into multifamily investments by creating high-quality, attainable living spaces, while generating risk-adjusted returns for investors.
Gurnet has other multifamily projects in Portland, Lewiston and Bucksport.
“We were engaged by the sellers to sell the asset in late 2025 and we brought the opportunity to regional and national low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) buyers," said Millett.
“It was a competitive off-market process with multiple offers and we ultimately worked with Collin and Rylee because of their recent other LIHTC acquisitions, familiarity with MaineHousing, existing local management team and plans for improving the property," he added.
Gurnet plans to invest in major capital items such as the roofs, mechanical systems and exteriors, he added.
Stephanie Meagher, head of research for Mainebiz parent company New England Business Media, contributed to this report.Â
