The 380-unit Highlands of Preston apartment community in Plano was recently sold for an undisclosed price.
PLANO/AUSTIN, TX—Miami-based The Easton Group has sold two apartment communities in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area that were both acquired three years ago. In the first deal, Easton sold the 247-unit Creeks of Calloway located at 3830 Booth Calloway Rd. near Fort Worth for an undisclosed price. It was acquired in July 2016.
Soon after, the group sold the 380-unit Highlands of Preston apartment community at 2523 Ohio Dr. in Plano for an undisclosed price. It was acquired in November 2016.
In 2016 and 2017, Easton acquired a total of 1,127 apartment units in Texas. Besides the two multifamily properties in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, it still owns and operates two other communities with a total of 500 units in north Austin. Those properties, Legends at Lake Creek and Legends Lakeline, are located very near where a new $1 billion Apple campus will be built, with the capacity to create 15,000 new jobs.
"We have been very fortunate with our investments in Texas, which like Florida does not have state income tax," said Edward W. Easton, founder and chairman of The Easton Group. "Austin is on a growth tear. We feel like it's yet to reach its full potential, so we will stay true to our original plan and hold on for the long term."
Easton is no stranger to Texas real estate investing. He was part of a joint venture that acquired a 400,000-square-foot class-A office building in Houston's West Loop/Galleria area for $28.2 million in 2004, and sold it two and a half years later for $69 million.
"Our company is focused mainly on industrial investment, brokerage and development in South Florida. Throughout the history of our company, we have always been opportunistic with various deals outside of Florida," Easton tells GlobeSt.com. "We love Texas because it is very similar to Florida in that there is no state income tax, both have growing populations and economies, and climates are comparable."
Easton says three years ago, the firm developed a strategy to acquire assets in Texas and ended up acquiring the two multifamily properties in the Dallas metro area, with its strong job and wage growth.
"We felt we bought at the right time and due to strong rental demand, were able to achieve solid rent growth over a two to three-year period," Easton tells GlobeSt.com. "Then we had an opportunity to sell and make a nice return for investors. In Austin, we plan on holding onto our two multifamily properties for a longer period as we still see a lot of upside in the market."
Austin remains the fastest growing major city in the United States with a strong rental market, low unemployment and rising incomes compared to the rest of the state. In fact, one personal finance website ranked Austin as one of the top Texas cities for middle class families, Easton relays.
"Austin is a place where people from all over want to live and work," Easton tells GlobeSt.com. "All this translates into more demand for housing and upward pressure on rents. We are very bullish on the area from an investment point of view. While we have had success to date in Texas, we continue to look for new opportunities. We are open to anything that makes sense, whether residential or industrial, which has been our bread and butter for the past 45-plus years."
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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.
