Nate Paul Bought the Property in 2011, Almost Quadruples Initial Investment in Six Years
The shopping center at 10-60 Coon Rapids Blvd. has been sold for $11.1 million by an entity tied to Austin, TX-based World Class Capital, which is the real estate empire founded by Nate Paul when he was just 20 years old. The purchase price works out to about $60 per square foot.
He bought the retail property out of foreclosure for about $2.85 million in 2011, according to CoStar data, a purchase he recalled during an interview with Forbes last year.
“I ended up with the property since I was the only bidder willing to go tour a shopping center in Minneapolis in freezing temperatures in November and could close in ten days,” Paul, then aged 30 told Forbes, which described him as “a real estate prodigy.”
At the time, Northtown Village was only 48.9 percent occupied. It is now 88 percent occupied, said Colliers International’s Jeff Budish, with major tenants that include the trampoline and adventure park Urban Air, ShopJimmy.com, Savers, Michaels and Planet Fitness. A MN Home Outlet store recently opened in the only remaining anchor spot, which was left vacant by Circuit City.
The buyer is an LLC out of Plymouth, MN called L & K Capitals, which is controlled by Ho Y. Lee, according to public records on file with the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office.
Neither World Class nor the buyer could be reached for comment.
Northtown was on the market for about four months, and had an original asking price of $12.12 million, Budish said.
The center has a gross leasable area of 184,113 square feet and consists of two buildings constructed in 1995. It sits on a triangle lot located between two major highways, U.S. Interstate10 and State Highway 47. It is immediately north of the area’s main retail destination, the Northtown Mall, and is within a few blocks of Springbrook Mall, a Target, the Springbrook Nature Center, and a Walmart Supercenter as well.
MN Home Outlet recently moved into an anchor space left vacant by Circuit City.
Budish and Terese Reiling, both of Colliers’ Minneapolis office, represented the seller in the latest sale. Budish declined to identify the seller or the buyer. Under World Class’ ownership, Reiling was also responsible for leasing at Northtown Village.
For additional information on this transaction, please refer to CoStar COMPS #4178161.
