Beacon Real Estate Group has a distinctive acquisition strategy — it buys from developers shortly after they obtain the property’s certificate of occupancy.
Despite recent interest rate hikes and bank failures, the Miami-based firm is still getting these deals done.
On April 4, it completed its purchase of Pointe at Concord in Jefferson, Georgia. Formerly Prose Concord, the 300-unit community built by Alliance Residential in 2022 was 95% occupied at closing.
Beacon was attracted to the market, which chief operating officer Carlos Imery said saw strong growth over the past decade. “It's a very supply-constrained market,” he said. “The city just doesn't have much zoning available for multifamily.”
In addition, last month Beacon closed its phased, off-market acquisition of the brand-new Exchange at 1105 apartment community located southwest of Atlanta in LaGrange, Georgia. The project was built within the Georgia International Business Park in two phases — one completed in 2021 and another in December 2022. Beacon closed on the 198-unit first phase in March 2022 and the 82-unit second phase on March 16, 2023.
“We were procured by the broker specifically to close this deal because we have done something similar up in Gainesville, Georgia,” Imery said.
A two-part deal transaction
The Exchange at 1105 features custom home luxury finishes, according to Beacon. Phase I of the community is fully stabilized following a 40-unit-per-month lease-up. Phase II is on a similar trajectory, with its heavier mix of two- and three-bedroom apartments.
Imery said Beacon paid roughly $230,000 a door for both properties. Even though values might have declined between closing the two deals, the larger floorplans in the second phase provide a benefit. “I think we have lightning in a bottle with phase two because there are a lot of three-bedroom units,” he said.
Beacon liked some of the area’s underlying data, including that 60% of the workforce in Troup County, where LaGrange sits, commutes from other places.
In addition to being within the fourth-largest business park in the United States, Exchange at 1105 is also near Kia Motors’ car manufacturing facility, I-85, I-185 and downtown LaGrange’s dining and entertainment scene.
“The main thing that we look at when we're buying multifamily is people moving into the area because that signifies growth and signifies that there is demand,” Imery said.
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