Portland-based property management company Guardian Management has acquired a new, 98-unit apartment complex in Lebanon for $12.2 million.

A stake in Lebanon in Linn County is a first for Guardian Management, which specializes in using tax credits to finance the purchase of affordable multifamily housing units. For Thomas Brenneke, the president of Guardian Management, the new apartment building is filling a need in a rural area that will need apartments in the coming years.

“The demand for affordable housing in Lebanon is pretty good,” Brenneke said.

In fact, the Queen Anne Apartments were the first multifamily apartment complex built in Lebanon in more than a decade.

At the moment, Brenneke said, the complex is moving in its first residents and is almost 60 percent leased.

For the purchase of this property, the Oregon Housing and Community Services supplied the permanent debt. The bonds were acquired by Washington Mutual and by a group affiliated with Slayden Construction, which developed and built the apartments.

Equity for the transaction was provided through the Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program with Key Community Development Corporation as the tax credit equity partner.

At $125,000 per unit, the purchase price was actually well below prices normally associated with developments with the special transaction costs associated with tax credit developments, Brenneke said.

The developer Slayden Construction, based in Stayton, has built thousands of apartment complexes throughout Oregon, typically focusing on apartment-rich cities like Eugene and Corvallis. In addition to the Queen Anne, the firm is working on a second complex in Lebanon called the Cascade Ridge Apartments.

Guardian Management started a business relationship with the company three years ago, and this is the first project on which they have partnered. Brenneke said he plans to partner with the company in the future as well.

Whether those projects will be in the same general area remains to be seen. But Brenneke still considers it to be a good fit for real estate.

There are three major reasons for this. First, there has been general growth in the region, including nearby Albany. Second, there’s an interest in apartment living due to a slack housing market. And third, the area is appealing to businesses, and the median household income is $31,000.

“We’re starting to like doing affordable housing in smaller markets,” said Brenneke, who sees less market saturation in areas with potential to grow.