Senior housing to get new owners

A California firm is selling all of its low-income and senior housing projects in Montana, including four apartment complexes in Flathead County and one in Libby.

Hampstead Partners, a privately held real estate development firm based in La Jolla, informed the Montana Board of Housing that it was selling the properties earlier this year.

The board had to approve the sale because several of the properties were renovated or built with the help of federal tax credits.

Eight Montana projects are involved in the sale, including Big Sky Manor, Sunridge Pointe and Centre Court Manor in Kalispell, Columbia Villa in Columbia Falls, and Green Meadow Manor in Libby, as well as apartments in Missoula, Bozeman and Deer Lodge. All together, they represent about 450 apartment units.

"Hampstead has probably been working on the sale for about a year," said Mat Rude, the state board's multifamily housing program manager. "We OK'd the sale in May. It's supposed to close this month."

Hampstead is selling the properties to Monfric Inc., a San Diego-based firm that currently owns 23 subsidized housing projects with 1,600 apartments in three states.

Rude said Hampstead's tenants here should be unaffected by the sale.

"They [Monfric] will have the same rules to follow," he said. "They can't evict anyone without cause, there shouldn't be any sudden changes, and rents can only go up what we allow."