A deep-pocketed New England real estate investor has finalized two Charleston apartment acquisitions totaling nearly $140 million, calling it the kickoff of a “multi-decade commitment” in the Lowcountry.

Northland Investment Corp. this week bought the 312-unit Wharf 7 property on Daniel Island and The Standard, a 280-unit complex along Maybank Highway on James Island.

The Newton, Mass.-based private equity firm paid nearly $70 million for Wharf 7 — among the highest prices ever for an apartment deal on Daniel Island, according to Berkeley County land records.

The company also laid out nearly $69 million for the James Island property, according to a deed filed Friday with Charleston County.
The two sales averaged out to about $235,000 per rental unit.

The sellers were New Jersey-based affiliates of PGIM Inc., formerly Prudential Investment Management, the asset management arm of life insurer Prudential Financial, according to land records for Charleston and Berkeley counties.

“Our acquisition of these two assets is just the beginning of our multi-decade commitment to Charleston and its residents,” said Matthew Gottesdiener, Northland’s chief investment officer.

Northland said its real estate asset portfolio is valued at $5.5 billion and includes more than 25,000 residential units and 2.5 million square feet of commercial space. Until this week the company had no holdings in South Carolina, though it owns apartments in Charlotte.

Gottesdiener said Northland was attracted to the Charleston region because it is “home to some of the country’s fastest-growing and most dynamic companies.”

To read the full article, visit https://www.postandcourier.com/business/real_estate/pair-of-charleston-apartments-sold-to-massachusetts-investment-firm-one/article_5b29e996-dbb1-11e9-a81a-6b6323bae279.html

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NEWTON, MA (July 19, 2018) – Northland Investment Corporation, a member of the National Multifamily Housing Council’s Top Fifty Owners, announced today the acquisition of 1600 Glenarm, an iconic 31-story mixed-use asset in the heart of downtown Denver.  The purchase, Northland’s first in Colorado, expands the company’s national presence to more than 25,000 residential units across ten states.  Northland also acquired a development parcel two blocks from 1600 Glenarm that has been designed for 305 residential units in a 31-story tower.

“We are very excited to be entering the Denver market with the acquisition of a best in class generational asset.  In many respects – a highly educated work force, internationally acclaimed health care, and a high-quality, healthy lifestyle – Denver evokes Boston and Austin, two core Northland markets in which we have had great success” said Matthew Gottesdiener, Northland’s Chief Investment Officer.

1600 Glenarm holds a unique position directly on the Sixteenth Street Mall, in a market that was ranked third in U.S. News and World Report’s Best Places to Live 2018. 1600 Glenarm includes 333 luxury apartment homes with spacious floor plans, stunning views, state-of-the-art amenities, 24/7 concierge services, and 30,000 square feet of commercial space.

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While investors overall continue to find the Gulf Coast multifamily rental market attractive — for a third consecutive year — several companies are taking a “more is better” approach.

Northland Investment Corp., Federal Capital Partners and Radco Cos., among others, each have acquired at least a half dozen apartment properties in Tampa and elsewhere over the past three years.

Each maintains owning multiple complexes within a submarket allows for greater knowledge of market nuances, operating efficiencies, greater leverage with vendors and the ability to capture higher caliber employees.

Tampa, in particular, also is considered attractive because of its pro-business governments, job and population growth and infrastructure and other improvements.

“You can definitely obtain a better negotiating position with contractors and vendors by owning multiple properties in any given market,” says Matthew Gottesdiener, Boston-based Northland’s chief investment officer.

“But perhaps more importantly, owning several properties allows you to develop a more keen understanding of a local market.”

In October, Northland spent $112 million to buy the 35-story Element apartment tower in downtown Tampa, its fifth acquisition in the region in as many months.

The company, which in all owns 32 properties containing more than 9,000 units statewide, followed that 395-unit purchase up by buying the 360-unit Echo Lake community in Lakewood Ranch for $76.1 million, records show.

“There are a lot of good reasons to own multiple properties, as we do in the Tampa area,” says Norman Radow, founder and CEO of Radco Cos. “First of all, when you’re in the value-add business, as we are, you can’t just buy a property, send a construction crew down to fix it and be done.

“Care requires people, on-site,” he adds. “And that requires local relationships. And you can just do things more efficiently and get better pricing on materials and alike spread over a wider platform.”

Radow describes Tampa, where the company owns roughly 2,000 apartments, as a “model of success” for its job and population growth and commitment to infrastructure improvements in the wake of last decade’s recession.

He agrees with Gottesdiener that owning more than one complex can provide intimate market knowledge that a single holding cannot.

“If you have five properties in a market and you have problems with one, you can better determine what the issues are,” Radow says.

In June, Radco paid $41.7 million for the 536-unit Cordova Apartment Homes in Tampa, its sixth purchase in the city. The Atlanta-based company, as part of a $7.7 million rehabilitation, rebranded the community Sunstone Palms.

Part of the decision to cluster properties may also stem from a corporate strategy to focus on a limited number of markets nationwide.

That’s what drew Federal Capital Partners (FCP), a Chevy Chase, Md.-based firm, to Tampa.

FCP has acquired four area rental properties and financed two others over the past 18 months — including the 326-unit Belara Lakes and the 200-unit The Commons, both in Tampa, which were purchased for a combined $46.4 million.

“Those deals speak to our view of the Tampa market,” says Jason Ward, a FCP vice president. “We’re only focused on 10 markets nationwide, and Tampa is one of them. It’s one of the markets where there’s an older housing market and it’s a fast-growing job market.

“Our philosophy is that instead of being spread out too far, we’d rather focus on select geographic areas,” Ward adds.

In all, FCP now controls more than 800 apartments in Central Florida, a significant chunk of a portfolio of acquisitions or financing arrangements topping $5 billion.

“When you buy multiple properties in a region, as FCP does, they go in and clean them up, improve them, and then they can provide residents with a more affordable option and a better product than the competition,” says Matt Mitchell, a managing director in commercial brokerage firm HFF’s Tampa office, who represented the seller in FCP’s Commons’ purchase.

Gottesdiener, too, says the decision to cluster properties in Florida remains part of broader strategy.

“A big part of Northland’s DNA is that the company has a long-term focus,” he says. “We typically look at things through a 10-, 15- or even 25-year horizon. We believe there’s a direct economic benefit to developing a sense of scale in a market, because that leads to higher quality — and we think renters know quality when they see it.”

Both Gottesdiener and Radow say there’s another but equally practical reason to focus ownership: employees.

“People want to be part of a growing company, because they know there’s a chance for advancement,” Radow says. “That allows us to get a more professional staff.”

To view the full article, visit https://www.businessobserverfl.com/section/detail/hitting-critical-mass/

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