AmeriSouth Ratchets Up Buying, Selling, Refinances

The just-closed sale rolled an East Austin deed to a trio of investors from the San Francisco Bay Area, who paid $4.8 million for the 140-unit Mason Manor at 1137 Gunter St., Jeff Ratliff, AmeriSouth's executive vice president, tells GlobeSt.com. Three weeks ago, AmeriSouth was sitting on the buy side, with the $2.4-million takeover of the 130-unit Elm Ridge at 1161 Harvey Lane, right across the street from Mason Manor. John Brownlee of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP's Dallas office handled the financing packages, which included the retiring of $3 million of HUD debt as a result of the sale.

AmeriSouth, led by president and CEO Ruel Hamilton, in partnership with Dallas-based Kamco Property Co. bought Mason Manor in 1999, completed a $2-million rehab and took occupancy to 96% before selling it. Ratliff and Bobby Lankford with Kamco structured the JV's sale to the 1031 Exchange buyer who sold a four-plex in San Francisco and brought the proceeds to Texas. Mason Manor, with units averaging 801 sf, has a median rent of 84 cents per sf.

Now AmeriSouth's focus is repositioning the 96%-leased Elm Ridge. Ratliff says the upside will be gleaned from a two-phase, multi-million-dollar rehab to open the door for a rent hike at a HUD property tied to a Housing Assistance Program contract. The average rent right now is 76 cents per sf for units averaging 700 sf.

AmeriSouth, one of North Texas' most active multifamily buyers, turned its sights to Austin at year's start while jockeying for value-add deals in the highly competitive Dallas/Fort Worth marketplace. Elm Ridge is the third purchase this year in Austin and it's holding a contract for a fourth. AmeriSouth also has acquisitions pending in Fort Worth and Tulsa, OK. "We're going to cause a capital event to happen soon because we think rates are going to go up," Ratliff says of the multi-pronged push to buy, refi and sell up to five properties this year.