SAN ANTONIO—In a recent report by Commercial Café, the priciest apartment communities sold in 2017 were explored. In terms of buyers, there is one familiar name that dominates the top 50.
Blackstone Group was the most active buyer in 2017, with seven deals closed, trading more than $2 billion-worth of multifamily assets, most of those through its subsidiary, LivCor. The company closed six deals through this subsidiary, as well as a separate $199 million sale.
Coming in at number three, Blackstone acquired a cross-market portfolio that included properties in Texas, Florida and California for $790.5 million from IMT Capital, through LivCor. Comprising 4,488 units, the portfolio changed hands in May in the third-largest multifamily deal of the year. The class-B properties are located in Houston, Austin, Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, and were built between 1980 and 2014.
The largest of the bunch is Riata, a 2,044-unit multifamily community in Austin, TX, which commands an average rent of $1,287 per unit per month. Spread across 160 acres, Riata offers one- to three-bedroom units featuring amenities such as nine swimming pools, a 10,000-square-foot fitness center, as well as basketball, volleyball, racquetball, tennis and bocce ball courts.
In a deal closed last June that landed at number 22 on the list, Bluerock Real Estate shelled out $188.8 million for a portfolio comprised of Marquis at Stone Oak, Crown Ridge and TPC in San Antonio, and Cascades I and II in Tyler, TX.
The majority of San Antonio's rental growth is in the renter-by-necessity and workforce markets. The submarkets which are experiencing the greatest gains are the West Side (6.9%) and Southside/Columbus Heights (5.5%), GlobeSt.com learns.
“Development is primarily associated with lifestyle concentrated in the northern submarkets of Beckman/New Braunfels and the urban core,” Doug Ressler, director of business intelligence, Yardi-Matrix, tells GlobeSt.com. “However, the San Antonio Housing Association is planning to build their third mixed-income apartments on vacant land in Victoria Commons. This effort is a direct response to the growing workforce demand and inadequate supply. An additional project to meet workforce demand is at St. John's Seminary near Mission Concepcion. The 210 Development Group and various agencies are behind this effort.”
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Lisa Brown
Lisa Brown is an editor for the south and west regions of GlobeSt.com. She has 25-plus years of real estate experience, with a regional PR role at Grubb & Ellis and a national communications position at MMI. Brown also spent 10 years as executive director at NAIOP San Francisco Bay Area chapter, where she led the organization to achieving its first national award honors and recognition on Capitol Hill. She has written extensively on commercial real estate topics and edited numerous pieces on the subject.
