HOUSTON-In their first buy as partners, PraediumGroup and Carroll Organization acquiredthe 302-unit Carrington at Green Trails from DavisDeveloper, which completed the class A complex in 2009.With the dust having settled on the CRE deal, the new owners willchange the name to Carroll at Green Trails andplan small improvements to the asset, which was 95% occupied atclosing.

The real value add of the multifamily propertyat 529 Barker-Clodine Rd. in the far west submarket is thepotential for increasing the rents. “What I find in a lot of thesenewer deals that went through lease-up in 2009 and 2010 is thatthis happened when the economy wasn’t as strong,” commentsMark Lippman, managing director of the New YorkCity-based Praedium Group. “The Houston market has been strong, sowith some amenity improvement and value-add by putting granite andnew light fixtures in the unit, we can push rents.”

Lippman tells GlobeSt.com that thePraedium/Carroll Organization JV was able to strike a deal directlywith the seller, though the property had been on the market withthird-party representation as early as spring of 2010. He says thepartners are looking at other deals as well, with a couple ofpotential purchase located in Houston. The sweet spot for The $900million Praedium Fund VII LP, the $900 millionequity fund that acquired Carroll at Green Trails and isidentifying other likely assets for purchase include product in the$20 million and above range, that has a good ability to generatecash flow in the near term and that was built in the mid-1990s orlater.