As the saying goes, all real estate is local. For New York City- and Miami-based Atlas Real Estate Partners, that adage rang true when it bought the Latitude at Godley Station Apartments in June.
The driver behind the acquisition of the 256-unit property was its location in the Pooler submarket of historic Savannah, Georgia, which has seen 41% population growth since 2010, according to Joe Stampone, managing partner of investments with Atlas. The property is located about 15 minutes from the city’s downtown.
“[Pooler] transitioned from being a logistics distribution hub to a hub of manufacturing,” Stampone said. “And the driver of that is largely the Port of Savannah, which is the third largest port in the U.S. They're in the process of expanding their container capacity by 60%. So because of that logistics network, a lot of manufacturers want to relocate in the area.”
One of those manufacturers is Hyundai, which is building a $5.5 billion plant in Pooler that will add 8,500 direct jobs and another 5,000 indirect jobs. “These are high-paying jobs,” Stampone said. “And this is just a complete game changer for the market.”
With that sort of demand, pursuing the Latitude at Godley Station Apartments, built in 2015 at a 20% discount to replacement costs, made a lot of sense to the apartment owner. Making the deal even more attractive was assumable in-place financing from New York Life Insurance, which allowed Atlas to take over the property with a below-market interest rate.
“We had a previous loan with New York Life, and we already had a relationship with them,” Stampone said. “And that was important.”
Atlas intends to renovate the Latitude at Godley Station Apartments’ units and upgrade its amenities to appeal to a younger demographic, including adding a dog park and dog wash, pickleball court, on-site coworking, poolside grill and firepit and a café.
“Our strategy is to do a value-add renovation including upgrading all the units and adding some new modern amenities over a 36-month period, and then, at some point down the road, refi out with long-term, fixed-rate agency debt,” Stampone said.
Click here to sign up to receive multifamily and apartment news like this article in your inbox every weekday.
