AUSTIN-Knocking out 15 other bidders, an Atlanta-based investment group has snagged the class A, 192-unit McNeil House. The first-time Austin buyer has paid just south of the $19.8-million ask, getting a 5.3% cap rate to start the play.

Situated on 10.91 acres at 6280 McNeil Dr. on the far northwest side, McNeil House was put on the market eight years after Bridge Investment Group of Salt Lake City acquired it. "With the interest level going up in Austin, and interest rates dropping down below 6% and staying, they thought it would be a good time to put this on the market," explains Rex Jones, director for Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. in Austin.

As it turns out, the seller was correct in its assumption: 16 bona fide offers were received for the 92%-occupied complex. Jones tells GlobeSt.com that Williams Asset Management ended up with the goods because of a quicker close and a large amount of earnest money.

Jones says he wasn't surprised by the level of buyers' interest in the complex, which the new owner is naming McNeil Ranch. "Most of the growth area these days is northwest," he says. "That area around Highway 183 is almost like a second Downtown for Austin now. Other large residential builders are already building in the area."

Williams Asset Management is planning to upgrade the clubhouse and add a new fitness center in the 1988-construction complex. The one-, two- and three-bedroom units measure 677 sf to 1,468 sf. The monthly rents range from $896 to $1,565 per unit.