Steadfast Spends $49M on Atlanta Multifamily

ATLANTA—Steadfast Apartment REIT just laid down $49 million to buy 1800 Barrett Lakes, a 500-unit apartment community in Kennesaw, GA, an Atlanta submarket. Last month, Steadfast spent $99 million on the 696-unit Residences at McGinnis Ferry in Suwanee—30 miles northeast of Downtown Atlanta.

“1800 Barrett Lakes is located in one of the stronger submarkets within the Atlanta area,” says Ella Shaw Neyland, president of Steadfast. “We believe that the new Atlanta Braves baseball stadium—just six miles from the property—the expansion of the McCollum Field County Airport and the addition of a $38 million mixed-use development project will continue to drive demand for apartments in Kennesaw.”

Barrett Lake was built in two phases between 1988 and 1997 and is 96% occupied. The multifamily community has 30 garden-style buildings with one-, two-, and three-bedroom units and sits on 68 acres. Average in-place monthly rents are $827.

In terms of location, Kennesaw is about 15 miles northwest of Atlanta and close to about 6.6 million square feet of office space and 6.4 million square feet of retail space. That includes the Town Center Mall, which is one of the largest malls in the greater Atlanta area.

Kennesaw State University is home to 26,000 students. The university has plans for $795 million in projects to accommodate growing student enrollment, which is projected to reach 30,000 by 2016. 

According to Marcus & Millichap's ApartmentResearch Market Report for the fourth quarter of 2014, Metro Atlanta apartment operations have made “substantial strides” since the downturn. What's more, Atlanta's multifamily market shows no signs of slowing down going into 2015.

“Broad-based job creation is attracting more people to Atlanta, fueling demand for housing,” the report notes. “Over the past year, net migration surged 42% as 32,800 individuals moved to the region.”