(Read more on the multifamily market.)
AUSTIN-A partnership of Atlanta-based Post Properties Inc. and locally based Ardent Residential has closed on the second of two adjoining apartment complexes that they plan to demolish and replace with a single multifamily project about twice as large. The just-closed deal is the 32-unit Kingswood Apartments.
The partners earlier had acquired the 140-unit Bull Creek Apartments at 4320 Bull Creek Rd. Chris Stutzman, a managing director in the Central Texas multifamily group at Transwestern in Austin who represented the seller of Bull Creek and buyer of Kingswood at 4318 Bull Creek Rd., would not disclose prices for either deal. But, the larger property has an appraised value of $2.58 million and the smaller one is assessed at $1.56 million by Travis County. Jeff Rogers, also a managing director at Transwestern, worked with Stutzman on both deals.
"These have been the only sales for land value alone in this part of Austin," Stutzman tells GlobeSt.com. "But land prices are not as high as Downtown or the West Campus area, where property garnishes $100 a sf. Multifamily investment properties in the neighborhood are getting around $50,000 a unit."
According to Stutzman, Post and Ardent were in escrow on Bull Creek when Kingswood became available. Purchase of the second property enabled them to add 0.92 acre to the original 3.84 acres, creating a 4.76-acre development site. Stutzman says Post plans to build about 300 units. The existing properties are about 40 years old.
A Post spokeswoman says the company is not ready to release details about the project, but earlier press reports indicated the developer planned to spend $30 million to develop the Bull Creek site with a four-story building containing up to 250 units. The city approved the property's rezoning to allow greater density. A request to rezone the Kingswood site is pending.
Although some developers have faced community opposition in their attempts to build denser projects, Stutzman says this project generated little controversy. He attributes the lack of opposition to Ardent's legwork in gathering neighborhood support.
"Ardent has a lot of experience involving neighbors in their developments," Stutzman says. "They're very up front about their plans. In some areas, affordable housing issues come up, but not too much here. Generally people are in favor of replacing older properties with newer and higher-class developments."
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