Steadfast Buys Three for $50M

IRVINE, CA-Steadfast Income REIT Inc. has acquired three apartment communities in separate transactions for an aggregate purchase price of roughly $50 million. The properties are located in Texas and Indiana, increasing the firm's foothold on properties in the mid-section of the country.

Waterford on the Meadow and Arbors of Carrollton are both in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex; the seller was New York-based private-equity firm Azure Partners LLC. Lodge at Trails Edgeis in Indianapolis and sold to the REIT by the Praedium Group. The purchases bring the REIT's total holdings in the Midwestern and Southern states to 41.

Waterford on the Meadow is a 350-unit property located northeast of Dallas in Plano. Steadfast purchased the property, which was built in two phases in 1984 and 1985, for $23.1 million. The community offers a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments that are 96% occupied and have average in-place rents of $778.

Approximately 20% of Waterford's apartments have been renovated to include upgraded appliances and large-slat wood blinds on all windows. Steadfast plans to continue the interior upgrades when turning the units between residents.

Steadfast purchased Arbors at Carollton for $8.8 million. Built in 1984, the 131-unit property is located northwest of Dallas, is 95% occupied and features one- and two-bedroom apartments. Steadfast plans to upgrade the kitchen appliances and add two-inch wood-slat blinds on all windows when turning the units between residents.

Lodge at Trails Edge is a 268-unit apartment community that was purchased for $18.4 million. The property, which is 97% occupied and was built in 1981, consists of 13 two-story residential buildings that offer a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments with average in-place rents of approximately $700.

The Lodge is the second Indiana property Steadfast has purchased. The firm acquired Sycamore Terrace in Terre Haute in 2012.

According to Kyle Winning, CIO of Steadfast Cos., “We are pleased to be making strategic, well-positioned acquisitions that should continue to perform well in some of the strongest economic centers in the nation. We continue to focus on increasing our concentration in identified target markets throughout the middle of the country.”

As GlobeSt.com reported in June, the firm recently entered the Dallas-Fort Worth area with its buy of the 240-unit Grayson Ridge Apartments for $14.3 million. Steadfast acquired the 1980s complex from Praedium Group LLC in New York City.