MEMPHIS, TN—The Aspen Companies has snapped up more than 700 affordable HUD apartments across the Southeast for about $22 million. The affordable housing acquisition gives Aspen a greater presence in key urban markets like Memphis, TN, Greenville, SC, Augusta, GA, and Gainesville, FL.

Aspen has recently turned its attention to Southern markets. The company is in the midst of an aggressive expansion program to add high-performing and well-located projects based section 8 apartment assets to its portfolio.

“By tapping into niche markets such as HUD apartment buildings, we've been able to grow our business tremendously over the past three years with value-added acquisitions,” says Adam Mermelstein, a principal of Aspen.  “Specifically, we've focused on distressed properties in urban middle-class neighborhoods where there's a strong demand for quality housing that's also affordable. While these properties have been underperforming, the locations make them prime candidates to be repositioned into positive cash flow holdings.”

Aspen acquired Majestic Oaks, which offers 172 garden- style multifamily units in Gainesville, for $6.5 million. River Glenn Apartments in the historic district of Augusta, sold for $4.9 million. The firm purchased the 150-home Keystone Landing multifamily community for $4.5 million and the 120-unit Pendleton Place community for $3.14 million in Memphis. And Fleetwood Manor, a two-story garden multifamily community in Greenville, sold for $3 million. Aspen plans to make upgrades to all assets.

“Our acquisition approach and strategic improvement programs have allowed us to purchase, renovate and reintroduce them as modern apartment communities complete with all the necessary social programs and amenities that are still within the budgets of working families,” Mermelstein says. “It's a recipe that's been tremendously successful in the northeast where all of our HUD properties are achieving historically high occupancy levels. We fully expect the same results in these recently acquired southeastern assets.”