Author: ipgocorp

ANAHEIM, CA – JPI, a leader in the development of Class A multi-family housing, announced today that it has partnered with Grand China Fund, a Beijing-based private equity real estate fund, in a $255 million Joint Venture to develop 747 luxury apartment homes and a to-be-dedicated 1.1-acre City park within the Jefferson Stadium Park 17.6-acre master-planned development in Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle. Jefferson Stadium Park is a prime location within the prestigious Platinum Triangle, directly adjacent to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Ballpark, on the southwest corner of State College Boulevard and Gene Autry Way.

“We are pleased that Jefferson Stadium Park has attracted the attention of the international capital markets and are very excited about our new relationship with Grand China Fund,” said Gus Villalba, JPI Executive Vice President and Managing Regional Partner. “It gives us great confidence that we are building a portfolio of development projects that are resulting in the creation of investment partnerships from broader markets,” he said.

This is the second project for JPI in Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle. Currently under construction is the $180 million Jefferson Platinum Triangle, a 400-unit luxury apartment community located near the intersection of State College Boulevard and Katella Avenue, scheduled for occupancy in late November 2016.

“We are very encouraged to hear that JPI’s Jefferson Stadium Park development has attracted the attention of global investors,” said Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait. “Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle development projects, including JPI’s planned investment in the neighborhood of approximately $500 million, represent the vision our city has had for Platinum Triangle.”

Residents of both Jefferson Platinum Triangle and Jefferson Stadium Park will have access to Anaheim’s Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC), as well as year-round entertainment, including Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and the National Hockey League’s Anaheim Ducks. Both communities are just two miles from the Downtown Disney Shopping District, Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks. Also nearby is the public marketplace of the Anaheim Packing District.

JPI’s Western Region is based in San Diego and has developed and/or acquired 41 luxury apartment communities throughout California and Arizona totaling over 13,400 homes at an investment of over $2 billion. Recent Arizona activity includes developing 4 luxury apartment communities in metro Phoenix valued at over $300 million.  Jefferson Stadium Park will mark JPI as the largest luxury apartment developer in the area, as it continues to eagerly seek out more development sites in the Southern California market.

Grand China Fund offers a safe global real estate investment platform, with a successful and consistent performance history and attractive return on investments through vigorous risk-control systems.  “Grand China Fund seeks out partnerships with such leading real estate developers as JPI. JPI’s Jefferson Stadium Park is a model for the type of developments we target to include in our expanding portfolio,” said David Long, CEO of Grand China Fund. “This investment in Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle, and Jefferson Stadium Park, fits well within Grand China Fund’s investment parameters, and represents one of our latest commitments to developing quality multifamily assets in the US.”

(RECAP: Summer has barely finished but already the experts are weighing in with their opinions on what to expect in real estate in 2017. And the good news is that, despite the recent downturn in sales, many of the experts are predicting a much more successful year, with the National Association of Realtors (NAR), Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) all offering up positive forecasts of the year to come. First up is the NAR, which reckons existing home sales will top six million in 2017, beating out the 5.8 million its forecast for this year. But that forecast, although bullish, is actually more restrained than some of the others. For example, the MBA reckons home sales will surpass the 6.5 million mark in 2017, while Freddie and Fannie both offer the 6.2 million figure. The key to this uptick in home sales will be the Generation Y’ers, who’re beginning to emerge as an important segment of buyers. The experts say that Generation Y’ers will keep boosting home sales until 2020 at the very least.)

(RECAP: October is Affordable Housing Month in Arlington, a month-long celebration of the County’s long-term commitment to preserving and creating housing opportunities that benefit the whole community. The public is invited to take a bus tour of affordable housing developments around the County, participate in an affordable housing forum and view a traveling design gallery highlighting the potential of “Missing Middle Housing” that falls between single-family homes and mid-rise buildings.)

(RECAP: A once proud history in Hampton’s Olde Hampton neighborhood has long been overshadowed by the area’s economic woes, but more than a decade of redevelopment efforts are starting to bear fruit, and officials say the area is finally garnering interest from private developers. The HRHA has been bringing in developers with the dollar lot program — builders can acquire an empty lot in Olde Hampton for a dollar to build and sell homes. The city has sold 18 lots around the city, with three more under contract. Another 19 lots are ready for round two of the program. About a dozen of the plots are in Olde Hampton. Thirteen of the 18 lots sold have had houses built on them and been resold. And the HRHA has been acting as its own developer — the 19-unit Patterson Crossing Apartments, expected to open in November, were built by the HRHA on a plot that previously housed two adjacent smaller apartment buildings. Across the street stand three houses the HRHA finished in 2015.)

PHILADELPHIA, PA – GoldOller Real Estate Investments announced the acquisition of Charter Court Apartments (formerly School Lane House Apartments) for $56 Million. Charter Court consists of 500 units within two interconnected eleven story towers at 5450 Wissahickon Ave. in the East Falls section of Philadelphia.

According to GoldOller’s Chairman Richard Oller, GoldOller intends a major renovation of the property that will address virtually every aspect of the iconic 50’s vintage building, restoring it to the grandeur of its past.

“This is our first apartment acquisition in the Philadelphia area in years and for me this is walk down memory lane.  As a kid who grew up in Philadelphia, I have great memories visiting relatives who lived there.  In the summer we would take the train to Queen Lane, walk a block and spend the day swimming at the apartment pool which was like a country club experience.  I loved the view of the City from the apartment and I always remember feeling important when I was greeted by door staff who always remembered my name, I intend to bring back that feeling for all residents,” Oller said.

“We are very bullish on Charter Court and the historic East Falls section of Philadelphia.  Our plan is to implement renovations and service enhancements while maintaining a price advantage over our local competition in East Falls and at a significant discount to comparable Center City properties,”  said Jake Hollinger, GoldOller Partner and COO.  “From GoldOller’s inception, we have consistently produced excellent returns for our investors by employing this value enhancement strategy and we are confident that our success will continue with Charter Court.” 

Charter Court residents will benefit from a complete restoration of the buildings and the grounds.  Renovations will include a new high efficiency HVAC system, new windows, upgraded hallways, a new 5,000 square foot fitness palace, an onsite spa and dry cleaner, bark park, and a cyber café.  Additionally, all of the apartments will be upgraded with brand new kitchens and bathrooms including granite countertops and high end fixtures.

“Residents will begin enjoying enhanced GoldOller lifestyle management services immediately,” said Joseph Eisenstein, GoldOller’s Charter Court project coordinator.  “We are taking great care to complete our improvements without disruption to existing residents, many of whom are long-term.  Key to this success is enhanced 24 hour professionalized staffing and sophisticated operational technology to notify residents of activities like free fitness classes and other GO branded lifestyle services.”

Accordingly, to Kate Muckenhirn, GoldOller’s Marketing and Brand Manager, Charter Court checks all the boxes.  “The location is perfect; a short walk to Philadelphia University, Drexel University Medical School, William Penn Charter Academy and Germantown Friends School, the Queen’s Lane SEPTA rail station, and a ten-minute drive into the Center City. The current amenities are great but the new amenities will be the talk of the town. The unit mix includes studios, one, and two bedroom homes with affordable rents. Add to that our GoldOller ‘Life On The Go’ Services, and it’s a home run.”

NEW YORK, NY – Amherst Holdings announced that its single family residential platform completed the sale of a portfolio of 4,262 single family rental properties for $652 million. The purchaser is Altisource Residential, an operating partnership controlled by Altisource Residential Corporation, a publicly traded REIT, which has acquired a 100 percent equity interest in the portfolio.

As part of the transaction, an Amherst sponsored entity is providing seller financing equal to 75% of the purchase price. Amherst will remain the property manager for the portfolio through its subsidiary, Main Street Renewal LLC. This is Amherst’s second major transaction this year with an institutional investor.

“This sale is a marquee transaction for our single family rental business and demonstrates key aspects of our unique business model. We are creating turnkey opportunities for investors globally to gain access to large portfolios of professionally managed and financed rental homes.” said Sean Dobson, Chief Executive Officer at Amherst Holdings LLC.

Drew Flahive, President of Amherst Single Family Residential said, “We have built an integrated platform with the ability to acquire, develop and convert individual single family properties to rental use and then orchestrate the sale of large portfolios of these homes to institutional investors. We will continue to expand our acquisition and property management activities to meet the growing demand from both consumers and investors for high quality rental properties.” 

Amherst received legal counsel from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Mayer Brown LLP. Nomura Securities International Inc. served as the financial advisor on the transaction.

The Amherst single family residential platform currently manages multiple pools of capital that invest in single family rental homes. Since the platform was created in 2012, it has raised more than $2.5 billion of debt and equity capital in support of its acquisition, stabilization and portfolio sale activities.

To manage its portfolio of single family homes and support its development and sale activities, Amherst founded Main Street Renewal, an internally managed, vertically integrated property acquisition, repair and management business. The company has a staff of approximately 320 professionals located in Austin, Texas and 20 regional offices and call centers.

(RECAP: When you think of the Fed, you think of Janet Yellen, or monetary policy, or the interest rate on your mortgage. Can we interest you in a little affordable housing? Patrick Harker interested us. The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia announced last week the launch of a new research initiative on how poverty affects the economy. The subject, Harker said, is important from a moral perspective, but also because investments to alleviate poverty can generate returns elsewhere in the economy.)

LAS VEGAS, NV – The Bascom Group has acquired Trellis Park Crossroads Apartments, a 2009 construction 312-unit luxury apartment community located at 3825 Craig Crossing Drive, North Las Vegas, NV 89032. The $35.35 million sale closed on September 21, 2016. 

Since 2013, Bascom and its affiliates have acquired 27 multifamily properties in the Las Vegas market, totaling 8,563 units.  Spence Ballif with CBRE was the broker for the sale.  Brian Eisendrath and Annie Rice with CBRE arranged the $31.5 million loan with Resource Real Estate Funding, Inc.

Scott McClave, Senior Principal of Bascom, states “Crossroads is an institutionally built asset in a rapidly improving Las Vegas submarket.  The property is nearby the 95 and 215 freeways, and less than 10 miles from The Strip, giving residents access to major thoroughfares and job centers.  As the Las Vegas economy continues to strengthen, residents will look for high quality, well amenitized living environments like Crossroads.”

Jason Hanna, Senior Vice President of Bascom, comments “We continue to see improvements in the Las Vegas market as rents and occupancies strengthen.  We are excited about North Las Vegas because it showed some of the strongest growth of all Las Vegas submarkets in the last year.  As a top-tier apartment community in North Las Vegas, Crossroads is well-poised to benefit from new ownership and positive fundamentals.”

Crossroads was built in 2009 and consists of 14 three-story buildings situated on 15.6 acres.  Rental offerings include a range of one-bedroom through three-bedroom floorplans, with one-bedrooms accounting for 42% of the total units, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units accounting for 50% and 8% of the total units, respectively. 

The community offers tenants a robust amenity package including three pool/spa areas, two fitness centers, a clubhouse with business center, and a playground with splash park. The unit interiors are designed with open floorplans and modern finishes. Bascom plans to implement a modest renovation program to further enhance the high-level interior finishes and build on the existing amenity package.

ALEXANDRIA, VA – e-lofts, a revolutionary real estate concept offering highly amenitized loft-style spaces that can each be used as either an apartment, office or live/work space, announces the opening of its first location.  Located at 4501 Ford Avenue in Alexandria, Virginia, e-lofts Alexandria features beautiful, open loft-style spaces that can each be used, at all times, as either an apartment, office or live/work space at the user’s choice.

“We are excited to be opening our first e-lofts project in Alexandria.”  Robert Seldin, CEO of e-lofts remarks, “This is the only product of its type that combines unmatched style with unprecedented amenities to meet the ever changing demands of both living and working today.”

e-lofts Alexandria represents the culmination of a two year and $50 million effort to completely transform a formerly vacant 240,000 square foot building into 200 market leading loft style units ranging in size between 650 and 1,200 square feet with prices starting at $1,800. Each loft makes the perfect apartment for residents who desire more usable living space without extra cost, teleworkers, home-based businesses, or companies with 10 or fewer employees. e-lofts members – either resident or business – sign a typical 12-month, apartment-style lease, and then just bring their furniture. Loft amenities include open floor plans, 10-foot exposed ceilings, plank flooring, European kitchens, deluxe baths,100% LED lighting, filtered air and water, fiber to the unit and business-ready electrical and data service.  Building amenities include a professional-grade fitness center, a 30,000 square foot amenity deck, pet salon, community social kitchen, multiple conference facilities, co-working and breakout workspaces and sound proof music practice facilities.

e-lofts Alexandria is located just minutes from Reagan National Airport, The Pentagon, downtown Washington, DC, the Rosslyn / Ballston Corridor in Arlington and Old Town Alexandria. e-lofts plans five additional locations in the Washington, DC metro area as well as in select markets around the US.

DALLAS, TX – Year-over-year apartment rent declines in some of the nation’s highest-priced markets continued to affect the overall national market, as performance moderated in the third quarter of 2016, according to early figures from Axiometrics, a provider of apartment and student housing market intelligence.

The average effective rent nationwide was $1,289 per unit per month, compared to $1,251 in the third quarter of 2015.

That marked a year-over-year increase of 3.0% for the third quarter of 2016, more than 2 percentage points below the robust 5.2% rent growth of one year ago. This marked the fourth straight quarter in which the annual rent-growth rate decreased.

“While the national apartment market is still performing above the long-term average, the moderation from the unsustainable levels of 2014 and 2015 has come, as Axiometrics predicted,” said Jay Denton, Axiometrics Senior Vice President of Analytics. “In particular, rent growth has declined precipitously in markets with the highest rents in the country, such as New York and the San Francisco Bay Area.”

Rent levels declined year over year in the three major markets with the highest rents — San Francisco, New York and San Jose — and increased by less than 2% in the fourth highest rent-growth metro, Oakland.

Although Houston isn’t a high-rent market, its -2.8% rent growth in the third quarter also helped weigh down the national rate.

Hartford, Birmingham and Oklahoma City also experienced negative annual rent growth.

“Job growth isn’t bad in the Bay Area and New York, though the rate has slowed over the past year, so demand for apartments is still relatively strong,” Denton said. “However, the amount of new supply that has been and will be delivered to these markets is extremely large and is forcing owners and developers to keep rents lower than they would like so they can remain competitive.”

San Francisco, though, may be showing some signs of recovery. Though year-over-year rent growth was negative, the average third-quarter rent was 2.6% higher than the average second-quarter payment.

“What that tells us is that the metro’s decline came last fall and winter,” Denton said. “If job growth picks up, the apartment market will gain strength.”

Houston is being affected by job losses in the energy sector, as well as a glut of supply in the urban core Montrose/River Oaks submarket.

“Urban cores in general are showing slowing performance,” Denton said. “The market is feeling the effects of the concentrated new supply in these submarkets. Nationwide, however, supply is just keeping up with the demand.”

The slower performance of high-priced markets is somewhat counteracted by robust fundamentals in secondary markets. For example, annual effective rent growth in Sacramento; Riverside, CA; Salt Lake City; Las Vegas; Fort Worth; Tampa-St. Petersburg; and Nashville are among the 10 highest in major markets.

Effective rents increased 1.2% in the third quarter over the second quarter. The rent-growth rates for the past four quarters have been lower than the previous corresponding quarters. Occupancy was 95.1% in the third quarter, compared to 95.2% in the second quarter and 95.4% in the third quarter of 2015.