WASHINGTON, DC—StoneBridge Investments, the US arm of a Netherlands-based investor in multifamily assets, has acquired a small, two-asset multifamily portfolio in DC's Brightwood submarket. JCR Cos. sold the properties for $9.6 million.

Robert Meehling, Michael Rudolph, and Yalda Ghamarian of the CBRE Washington DC Multifamily Investment Properties team, represented the seller along with William Roohan, Michael Muldowney, Brian Margerum, and Martha Hastings.

The deal is an intriguing one, not the least because it is rare to see a European-based investor with an entrepreneurial bent investing in anything in the District that is not a core asset product. The site gives little away about its strategy or investor clientele other than to say, on its website, that it focuses "on unique opportunities where we can create lasting value."

And while Brightwood is a solid neighborhood, it doesn't have the pizzazz of the emerging waterfront or the in-your-face urban amenities in Adams Morgan or the U Street Corridor. This is not to say it has no appeal to urban dwellers. On the contrary the neighborhood, constructed in the 1930s, has an undeniable charm and is located close enough to several other neighborhoods undergoing revitalization including Petworth and the 16th Street Heights.

A significant clue as to the properties' appeal to StoneBridge can be found in CBRE's discussion of rent control in its announcement of the deal.

Namely, it said that:

"…….the District's rent control creates an opportunity to annually increase top-line rent revenue at a rate that continually exceeds market-rate properties."

The two properties in the portfolio are The Rockford, located at 1444 Rock Creek Ford Rd., NW. The 68-unit asset was acquired for $8.05 million. The Peabody, located at 1371 Peabody Street, NW, is a 14-unit asset and it was acquired for $1.55 million.