Bell Partners buys Ballard's Leva apartments for $95 million

A 261-unit Ballard apartment complex just sold for $95 million. The deal at 1545 NW Market St. marks the fourth large multifamily sale in the neighborhood since January.

Bell Partners Inc., a North Carolina-based apartment investment and management firm, bought the Leva on Market complex from a BlackRock Realty Advisors affiliate, The Real Deal reported, citing the Puget Sound Business Journal.

The sale works out to about $364,000 per unit.

Bell Partners has already rebranded the property as Bell Ballard, according to My Ballard. JLL Real Estate Capital provided a $56 million acquisition loan, The Real Deal reported.

The acquisition is Bell Partners' seventh in the Puget Sound region and its second inside Seattle city limits. The firm bought a building at 1801 S. Jackson St. in the Central District for $72 million in 2021, according to The Real Deal. It also owns properties in Redmond, Kirkland and Lynnwood.

Bell Partners President and CEO Lili Dunn said in a March 2026 statement about a separate corporate deal that the firm's strategy is to "extend Bell's operating and investment expertise across a larger residential platform." Toronto-based Sun Life Financial announced that month that it intended to acquire Bell Partners for $350 million, according to CoStar. Whether that acquisition has closed is not clear from available records.

The BlackRock-linked seller, Ballard Apartments LLC, bought the land in 2006 for $4.9 million. The building opened in 2009 as one of the first large apartment complexes in Ballard. Ground-floor retail tenants include Waxing the City, Tropical Tan and Club Pilates, which opened at the location earlier in 2026.

Ballard has drawn heavy institutional investment in 2026. GT Capital and Freestone Capital Management bought the 192-unit Lock Vista Apartments for $43.7 million in January. TMR Investments bought the 91-unit Vive Apartments at 1516 NW 51st St. for $24.6 million in May. In August, a BentallGreenOak affiliate paid $152 million for the 238-unit Ballard Independent at 2245 NW 56th St.

Additional apartment projects are planned nearby. Holland Partner Group is planning an eight-story, 239-unit building at 1740 NW Market St. Timberlane Partners filed plans in August to redevelop the Goodwill in Ballard at 6400 Eighth Ave. NW into a 300-unit mixed-use project, The Real Deal reported.