LAKEWOOD, NJ-Lightstone Value Plus Real Estate Investment Trust Inc., an affiliate of the Lightstone Group based here, has acquired a portfolio made up of five apartment communities in two states, totaling 1,576 residential units. The seller was the Houston-based Camden Property Trust; the sale price was not disclosed.
"This was a very strategic purchase for us for a variety of reasons," says David Lichtenstein, Lightstone's chairman and CEO. "These properties were originally marketed in three separate efforts, and we believe acquiring them as a single portfolio reflects our creative approach to investing.
"Our acquisition of stabilized class B and B-plus apartment communities at an in-place capitalization rate of 7.4%, combined with our fixed rate mortgage of 5.4%, should provide excellent yields to our investors," Lichtenstein says.
The acquisition includes Beacon Isles in Tampa, FL, 484 units; Timber Creek, 352 units, and Eastchase, 220 units, in Charlotte, NC; and Beacon Glen, 304 units, and Wendover, 216 units, in Greensboro, NC. For Camden Property Trust, the sale of the two Greensboro properties marks the company's exit from that market.
Consisting of all garden-style apartments built by Camden between 1980 and 1987, the properties will be managed by Beacon Property Management, another Lightstone affiliate. And all will get substantial interior renovations over the next three years, the new owners say.
"Our short-term strategy is to acquire properties with well-maintained exteriors, but dated interior finishes and below market rents," says Joshua Kornberg, Lightstone's director of investments. "In these three markets, comparable properties that have performed interior and amenity upgrades are receiving monthly rents $40 to $100 per unit higher than those at the properties that we have acquired. Over the next few years, we anticipate an increase in rents from expected supply and demand changes such an influx of new renters due to the increased costs of home ownership."
According to Camden chairman Richard Campo, "the proceeds will be used to pay down the company's unsecured line of credit and fund its stock repurchase and development programs."
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
