ARA Newmark Announces Sale of 112-Site Manufactured Home Community Located Just Outside of Champaign, IL

Buyer Pays Off Existing Mortgage to Secure Attractive Long-Term Financing Rantoul (August 2015) —

ARA, A Newmark Company (ARA Newmark) announced the sale of Maplewood Estates, a 112-site manufactured home community located in Rantoul, IL 18 miles outside of Champaign. ARA Newmark’s Managing Director Todd Fletcher and Associate Jon Shay, along with Executive Managing Director Andrew Shih represented the seller David Worth with Ravinia Communities, one of the largest manufactured home community owners in the Chicagoland area. MHP Funds, a privately-held company based out of Cedaredge, CO and led by David Reynolds, purchased the property for an undisclosed price. With only positive things to say about the buyer, Fletcher noted, "MHP Funds made a very smart move to prepay the existing debt so they could buy the community with a new, long-term mortgage at much more attractive terms than what was in place at the time, despite a large prepayment penalty." "Buyer interest in this community was significant because it is getting harder to find opportunities for clean, full manufactured housing communities on public utilities with almost no park-owned homes or chattel loans supporting the occupancy," added Shih. Constructed in 1980, Maplewood Estates is a well-maintained manufactured home community that features an attractive layout with curvilinear streets, off-street parking and mature trees throughout. The roads within the park were repaved in 2007 and are currently in great condition. The community is close to a number of public schools and is approximately 16 miles from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which was ranked as the #11 top public school by U.S. News & World Report. The University of Illinois comprises 17 schools and colleges with more than 44,500 students enrolled in 2013. An estimated 32,000 students apply annually. Maplewood Estates is also five minutes from the Rantoul Amtrak, a national passenger rail system that travels to over 500 destinations in 46 states.

 The city of Rantoul features eight beautiful parks with groomed landscaping and more than nine miles of bike and pedestrian paths throughout. Notable entertainment options include the Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum, the Illinois Skydiving Center, Korean War Veterans Museum and the Rantoul Theater Group. Rantoul is also home to the Rantoul National Aviation Center, which offers a flight school, an aircraft manufacturing base, an import and export facility as well as other services.

The unemployment rate in Rantoul, IL for December 2014 was 5.5%, significantly lower than in July when it was just over 7%; it has since been trending down. Major employers in the area include Easton Bell Sports, Jeld-Wen Windows and Doors, ConAir and Taylor Studios.