DALLAS, GA-The joint venture Silver-McCann Apartment Group LP has entered the Atlanta market with the acquisition of the 332-unit St. Ives Apartments for $27.87 million.

The acquisition was funded in part by a 10-year Freddie Mac fixed-rate loan with a rate of 5.99% originated by Deutsche Bank Berkshire Mortgage Inc. The garden-style complex is located in the Paulding County submarket of northwest metropolitan Atlanta. It will be managed by RAM Partners LLC. "Atlanta is a recovering market that has potential for rent growth in the near and long term," said Fleet Wallace, a principal of Silver-McCann Apartment Group, tells GlobeSt.com. "Paulding County is one of the fastest growing counties in the country."

The property, constructed in three phases between 2000 and 2006, is fairly new so there are no immediate plans to make capital improvements. When the lease-up for the third phase, completed in May, is finished, the anticipated occupancy rate will be approximately 92%, Wallace says.

The joint venture between apartment investment firm Richmond, VA-based McCann Realty Partners LLC and real estate development and investment firm Boca Raton, FL-based Silver Capital LLC was formed in April 2005 to acquire apartment communities in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. The principals expect to invest in excess of $100 million over the initial two years of the partnership.

The company is hoping to make more multifamily acquisitions in Atlanta in the future. "Silver McCann is a value buyer and we like the value that St. Ives represents," said John McCann, of McCann Realty Partners, in a prepared statement. "As Paulding County continues its rapid growth, we are seeing tremendous retail and other service growth around St. Ives, which creates a greater pool of renters."