Morgan Properties Buys 18,000-Unit Portfolio from Embattled Firm

KING OF PRUSSIA, NY—Locally-based Morgan Properties has acquired nearly 80 apartment communities encompassing approximately 15,000 units across eight states.

Morgan Properties acquired the portfolio from Pittsford, NY-based Morgan Communities, which has no relation to the Pennsylvania-based company.

Morgan Communities’ CEO Robert Morgan, his son Todd and two other Morgan Communities’ employees were indicted by a federal grand jury in May on wire fraud and bank fraud charges in connection with an alleged half-billion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme.

No financial details of the purchase transaction by Morgan Properties were announced. The transaction increases Morgan Properties’ total portfolio to more than 75,000 units in 15 states, making it one of the five largest multifamily owners in the US.

Since 2012, the firm has acquired more than $7 billion in total acquisition volume comprised of 50,000 units. Following this transaction, Morgan Properties has also agreed to acquire an additional 3,000 units from Morgan Communities.

The geographic concentration of the acquired portfolio is primarily in upstate New York markets, including Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany, and Pennsylvania submarkets that include Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. The portfolio also consists of assets in Memphis; Chicago, Huntsville, AL and Cleveland, which all represent new markets for Morgan Properties.

The firm notes that the deal solidifies Morgan Properties’ portfolio concentration in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions and its position as the largest multifamily owner/operator in the states of Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York.

Jason Morgan, principal at Morgan Properties, says the firm assumed property management across the acquired portfolio in July and has transitioned more than 750 employees to its team. Morgan Properties now employs approximately 2,000 workers.