Apollo closes $758m fund; eyes major US markets

Real Estate Weekly, July 16, 2008

Apollo Real Estate Advisors has closed Apollo Value Enhancement Fund VII, L.P., with a total of $758 million, the firm announced.

Apollo's Value Enhancement Funds employ a flexible investment strategy focusing on existing, income-producing U.S. properties which present opportunities to increase value. Apollo Value Enhancement Fund VII will continue Apollo's value-added strategy of investing in real estate assets primarily in major markets in the United States. The fund will seek to create a diversified portfolio across major property types, according to Steven Wolf, Apollo partner who oversees the firm's Value Enhancement Funds.

"We are very gratified with the response from our investors to the new Value Enhancement Fund," Wolf said. "We continue to see compelling opportunities where our team can apply its deep real estate expertise to add value in the current environment." Fund investments include 500 1st Street N.W. in Washington, D.C., a 129,000-square foot office building. The nine-story building, which also has two underground parking levels, is located on 1st Street N.W. and E Street N.W., just two blocks from Union Station and four blocks from the U.S. Capitol. Apollo plans approximately $7 million in building improvements in conjunction with the lease renewal of the current tenant, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) on behalf of the Department of Justice, which currently has a ten-year lease, Wolf said.

Apollo Value Enhancement Fund VII also purchased the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre. The 500room, 20-story glass curtained hotel tower is located prominently within Lincoln Centre, a premier Class A complex in North Dallas encompassing 1.6 million square feet. The hotel is situated at the intersection of the North Dallas Tollway and the Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway, directly across from the Galleria complex.

Wolf said Apollo plans approximately $30 million in hotel renovations that will include renovated guest rooms and bathrooms; the construction of 13,000 square feet of additional ballroom, meeting and prefunction space; and the reconfiguration and rebranding of the existing food and beverage outlets.

Apollo acquired the Value Enhancement Funds in 2004. Since the inception of the first fund in 1993, Value Enhancement Fund I through VI have invested in more than 140 transactions with an aggregate value of $5.9 billion.