Five years ago, Stuart Zook, chief investment officer for A-Rod Corp. company Monument Capital Management, tried to buy the Talus, an apartment property in the Minneapolis suburb of Plymouth, Minnesota.

But Bellevue, Washington-based apartment owner Curtis Capital Group ended up purchasing and later upgrading the 192-unit multifamily community. 

“There was a lot of deferred work that had to be done on that deal,” Zook told Multifamily Dive. “And so they dealt with the roofs, some parking lot stuff and the structural issues.”

After Curtis Capital completed some of the renovations, Zook had a second opportunity to buy Talus this summer. He took advantage, purchasing the property, built in 1972, as the first acquisition for the newly launched Monument Opportunity Fund V.  

“It's an amazing location,” Zook said. “It's in a good school district and right off Highway 169. You're near a lot of jobs.”

The property is a 10-minute drive to headquarters for both UnitedHealth Group and General Mills and less than a 30-minute drive to downtown Minneapolis and Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. 

Monument plans to continue renovating the property, focusing on unit interiors, including adding washers and dryers to some apartments and improving the asset’s curb appeal, community amenities and buildings. 

“It still has a ton of upside,” Zook said. “We already have our construction team up here working on it. We have economies of scale. We're renovating close to 20 units a month throughout the city. So that gives us a little bit of an advantage.”

Talus offers one- and two-bedroom, 800-to-1,100-square-foot apartments with hardwood-style flooring, stainless steel appliances, walk-in closets and private balconies. In addition, it features an off-leash dog area, walking paths, a fitness center, an outdoor swimming pool and indoor heated pool, a sundeck, laundry centers, underground heated parking and a newly renovated clubhouse.  

Minneapolis focus

With the Talus purchase, Monument now owns eight communities, totaling more than 1,000 units, in Minneapolis and surrounding markets.  

“I grew up in Chicago and I live in Minneapolis,” Zook said. “The bottom line is there's less competition for deals. In these markets, there are some really strong fundamentals that people are completely ignoring.”

Primarily, Zook points to jobs as a driver of rental growth. “There are more Fortune 500 companies per capita in Minneapolis-St. Paul than anywhere in the United States,” he said.

And there is one other advantage for Monument in Minneapolis: The company’s founding principal, former New York Yankees great Alex Rodriguez, is part owner of the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves. So the firm can leverage those relationships to get players to visit its properties, for instance. 

“We’ve formed a little partnership with them for one event and we’re hoping to get the players out for another event, maybe to come out on a Saturday morning and read a book to 20 kids,” Zook said. “We’re trying to do more of that because we believe creating a sense of community is important.”

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