Post Properties' Disposition Mines Another $22M

Post Townlake, being renamed to Townlake of Coppell, was on the market 30 to 35 days. The 91%-leased development at 215 N. Moore Road in Coppell "got attention from a broad array of investors," Jeff Price, president of Dallas-based Apartment Group, tells GlobeSt.com. "It's a solid bread-and-butter property in a terrific school district...the No. 2 district in all of North Texas." The strong positioning in a strong multifamily submarket, where no land can be had for apartment development, grabbed the attention of private and institutional investors alike along with the market push of an asset with a 7.5%, as-is cap rate.

Units average 880 sf; the median monthly rent is $879. The mix ranges from one-bedroom, one-bath designs of 675 sf, renting for $705 per month, to three-bedroom, two-bath apartments with 1,093 sf for $1,250. According to the Apartment Group's marketing brochure, the complex generates $4.2 million in annual rent income.

The Atlanta-based Post Properties brought the complex, built in two phases in 1985-86, to market as an all-cash trade. Last November, Post put 11 properties with 5,175 units up for sale, projecting to collect as much as $350 million in a revamped strategy to reduce concentrations in Atlanta and Dallas and exit select single-asset markets. The sales are expected to be completed within four months.

CWS Apartments is a privately held company with a "buy-and-hold strategy" and financials that are clearly off limits except to say that new financing was placed. Rich Fagan, CWS Apartments' investment analyst, says the location for the soon-to-be-named Townlake of Coppell, the school district and the strong financials were the reason the Austin firm got involved in the chase for its 11th multifamily asset with a total of 2,856 units in Dallas/Fort Worth. And, he says, there's another complex under contract in DFW.

Fagan says the region's multifamily performance isn't a deterrent from the buy side's perspective because "there's always a good submarket. The whole market's not necessarily down." He says there will be moderate upgrades to Townlake, but nothing out of line with the property's age.

Besides Price, the Apartment Group team included Bill Simmons, senior vice president, and Mick Rossley, vice president. On the buy side, Michael Engels, senior vice president of investments, steered the talks.