Cortland Acquires $244M in Multifamily

ATLANTA—Cortland Partners has acquired a whopping 2,237 multifamily units—mostly in the Atlanta region—for $244 million. Four of the multifamily communities are in the Atlanta MSA; one is in the Dallas MSA.

Cortland got the deals done, in part, through equity generated via its new alliance with two institutional capital partners. Debt capital for the transactions was provided by Freddie Mac through Walker Dunlop ($75.85 million) and through a loan commitment led by Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation ($107.1 million).

“We continue the execution of our strategic investment plan as we hit our stride with these acquisitions and new institutional capital sources,” says Steven DeFrancis, CEO of Cortland. Over the past three years the firm's multifamily portfolio has grown from 1,900 units to just under 13,000 units.

“We have improved our economies of scale in Texas with the addition of Coventry at Cityview in Fort Worth, enhanced our allocation in the Atlanta market, which is poised to outperform the national economy, and continued to evolve the capital structure of the firm,” DeFrancis continued. Coventry at Cityview in Fort Worth with 360 apartment homes.

The Atlanta-area multifamily acquisitions include Idlewyldein in the Duluth area of with 843 apartment homes. Cortland intends to operate this investment as two separate communities, consistent with the original development of the two-phased community. The seller was Associated Estates, a NYSE-traded REIT.

The other three multifamily acquisitions were Promenade at Peachtree in Brookhaven/Chamblee with 406 apartment homes; Lexington Farms in the Alpharetta with 360 apartment homes; and Longwood in the Decatur with 268 apartment homes. Equity Residential, a NYSE-traded REIT, sold these three assets to Cortland.

Cortland plans to invest in various interior and exterior upgrades to the communities in accordance with its value-add investment strategy. DeFrancis says: “We have $140 million of equity capital for future investments through this new equity capital alliance. We are actively seeking investments that meet our value creation criteria throughout our targeted markets.”