CALDWELL, Idaho — A new owner has purchased the mobile home park behind Karcher Mall in Nampa.
The Idaho Press reports the 151-lot Karcher Mobile Home Park sold for $7.5 million to Boa Vida, a California-based manufactured home and RV Park organization.
The previous owners, California-based investment company Elevate Commercial and Nevada-based commercial real estate agency Patriot Parks Management, bought the park last year. Elevate co-owner Demetre Booker Jr. said they did not have plans to sell the property, but Boa Vida made an attractive offer, and it made good economic sense to sell it. Booker said he closed the deal last week.
While the previous companies were owners of the park, Booker said they installed a playground on the property. Recently, he said the city of Nampa approved eight extra lots at the park. He said this will not affect the overall size of the park, which is over 25 acres.
According to Boa Vida’s website, the company owns and operates manufactured housing communities and RV parks across the western U.S. Booker said the company owns over 100 mobile home parks. He said he found Boa Vida an appealing company to purchase the park because “they share similar socially responsible investing philosophies as Elevate Commercial.”
The average resident pays $345 a month for their lot, Booker said. To his knowledge, Boa Vida does not plan to increase rents. He said both his company and Boa Vida value keeping costs “comparable” and “attractive” to the market.
“We believe they’re going to take care of residents as much as we are,” Booker said.
Rising rents have become a growing issue across the Treasure Valley, and mobile home park residents often experience rent increases after their property is sold to a new owner, according to Matthew Fast, program director for LEAP ROC, part of Boise-based LEAP Charities and the Idaho affiliate of ROC USA.
Fast and LEAP ROC recently helped residents at a Caldwell mobile home park become the first resident-owned mobile home park in Idaho, allowing the residents to control their own rents moving forward. Fast said LEAP ROC is hoping to work with other mobile home park owners in the state.
Booker said he was aware of LEAP ROC and their mission, but he was not interested in participating with them. He said in order for a resident-owned community to be successful, the residents need to be very educated about the process, otherwise it will fall apart.
Karcher Mall, next to the Nampa mobile home park, was also recently sold to a California company, which is planning a major remodel. Booker said the purchase was not the reason they sold the park. He’s supportive of the mall’s redevelopment and said it could provide job opportunities for the residents.
Earlier this year, Elevate Commercial purchased a 29,000-square-foot shopping center in Boise called the Formal and Bridal Center with plans to renovate it.
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