SoCal Investment Group Snags 398 Apartments

(To read more on the multifamily market, click here.)

AUSTIN-A Los Angeles investment group has bought two side-by-side properties in a plan to operate them as one. Comparable multifamily assets have changed hands for $35,000 to $45,000 per door.

The investment group plans to reposition the 233-unit English Aire Apartments and 165-unit Lafayette Landing along Burton Drive, assessed for a total $8.7 million by Travis County.

The two complexes, built as one in 1973 near the Downtown, were sold by different sellers in simultaneous closings. “The buyer plans to do renovations on the interior and exterior, bring them back together as one community. That’s a smart move on their part,” Ellen Muskin in the Austin office for Hendricks & Partners tells GlobeSt.com. “That’s a part of town where you can buy value-added assets and bring them up a level and still be right below replacement costs.” Muskin represented Peek-Howe Real Estate Inc. of Baton Rouge, LA in the sale of Lafayette Landing and Austin English Aire Ltd. of Austin in the English Aire disposition.

The just-bought, class B complexes are 90% occupied. Lafayette Landing at 1835 Burton Dr. has one- and two-bedroom units, with an average monthly rent of $480. Its neighbor at 1919 and 2121 Burton Dr., has studios and one- and two-bedroom apartments that bring in $435 to $788 per month.

Two months ago, National Commercial Ventures LLC, represented by Austin-based Colliers Oxford Commercial, bought the 336-unit Silver Vale Crossing at 8900 Interstate 35 N. and 504-unit Brookstone at Longhorn Ranch at 8800 Interstate 35 N.