Greensboro-based Bell Partners bought a 258-unit apartment building that is part of the larger Meadowmont Village complex.

Bell Fund III, a Bell-sponsored ownership entity, and Bluerock Real Estate made the purchase and announced it late today. According to Orange County records, the transaction was for $37 million.

The Apartments at Meadowmont was built in 2001 and offers one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in 19 separate buildings. Total, the site has 296,000 square feet of rentable space. The property will be managed by Bell Partners, which plans to continue a current renovation project already in progress on the property.

The apartment complex is adjacent to Meadowmont Village, a 435-acre master-planned development adjacent to the Chapel Hill Country Club and across Highway 54 from Finley Golf Course.

Representatives from Bell Partners were not immediately available Wednesday night.

UNC's Kenan-Flagler business school wants to expand its Paul J. Rizzo Conference Center at Meadowmont, but it may have to choose between cutting specimen trees, building on a steep slope, creating the need for a railroad bridge or obstructing the view from a historic house it owns.

The Rizzo center provides a revenue stream for the school, as it hosts professional conferences with on-site meals and lodging.

UNC presented a concept plan for Phase III of the conference center Monday night.  Phases I and II consist of three buildings, including the historic Dubose House, totaling 161,000 square feet and 120 guest rooms. Phase III would add another 90,000 square feet with 80 guest rooms.

A corridor planned for a future light rail line connecting UNC to the rest of the Triangle runs through the middle of the site. To avoid building on a historic graveyard or on steep slopes, Kenan-Flagler proposes parking on one side of the rail corridor and the new building on the other.

But Town Council members expressed concern that would force the Triangle Transit Authority to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a bridge over the access road between the building and the parking lot.