"We do have it under contract," TGM co-founder Thomas Gochberg tells GlobeSt.com. Built by National Development, Plantation Ridge is owned by Heitman LLC of Chicago, which paid $56.5 million for the asset in December 2004. Neither Gochberg nor broker Richard Robinson of Apartment Realty Advisors would disclose details of the pending deal, but one source predicts the property will fetch more than $60 million.

TGM Associates had not been in the Greater Boston multifamily market prior to 2007 when the company made two investments, one in Portsmouth, NH, and the other in Salem, MA. Gochberg says the series of purchases does not necessarily reflect a desire to expand TGM's presence in the region, but rather the strengths of the individual assets. "It's a factor of what we can find and the pricing we can get it for," he relays in explaining the firm's investment strategy. TGM has a national footprint, owning approximately 20,000 units in 23 states. New England has been difficult to penetrate, Gochberg says, simply because there had been little investment-grade product available prior to the mid-1990s.

During the past decade, however, national multifamily players Archstone-Smith, AvalonBay and JPI have dramatically ramped up their inventory under construction in Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire, supplementing the stock previously built by private operators such as the Flatley Co., Hamilton Co. and National Development. The latter firm, headquartered in Gochberg's hometown of Newton, built Arborpoint at Plantation Ridge as part of a series of Arborpoint-branded apartment communities it constructed in recent years. The Portsmouth, NH, complex that TMG paid $50 million for last autumn was developed by a local company from that market, whereas the Salem, MA, asset was purchased from Archstone.

As for Plantation Ridge, Gochberg declined to discuss what aspects of the property drew TGM to make the commitment, but one industry observer familiar with the complex ranks it in the top tier of multifamily communities in Worcester. "They did a fantastic job," the source says of National Development, which divested Plantation Ridge soon after construction was completed. Features include individual balconies, central air conditioning and wall-to-wall carpeting, plus an amenity center and fitness facility.

Whatever the allure, TGM is performing due diligence and working towards a close on the Worcester property, according to Gochberg. The company principal says TGM will consider additional multifamily opportunities in New England, but reports nothing else regionally is under contract at present.