Arlington, Virginia-based Blackfin Real Estate Investors has entered Georgia after closing on Sage Creek Apartments in Augusta for $17.3 million.
Sage Creek is a fully gated three-story garden-style property built in 2016, with 120 apartments that feature 9-foot ceilings, stainless steel appliances, granite countertops and washer-dryer connections. Its amenities include a coffee bar, swimming pool, 24-hour fitness center, bark park and package service.
“We've been looking at that market for a while, and this type of product was trading for $240,000 to $250,000-plus a unit,” Doug Root, co-founder and managing partner of Blackfin, told Multifamily Dive. “And, we're in for around $140,000.”
Blackfin was drawn to Augusta's regional economic drivers, including the Augusta Medical District, Textron, John Deere and Fort Eisenhower, home to the U.S. Army Cyber Command and the Georgia Cyber Command Center.
“The U.S. Army Cyber Command and the Georgia Cyber Command Center continue to bring technology professionals to the submarket,” Root said. “That cybersecurity space is not going away anytime soon.”
Sage Creek is in the heart of Augusta, less than a mile from I-20 and I-520 and in proximity to the area's many retail and employment offerings, according to Root.
“We think that the fundamentals of that market are solid,” Root said. “It has a good, stable workforce, and no new supply will be added, just due to where construction costs are. So we think the market is set to outperform.”
Mike Riley and Ian Shaw of Berkadia’s Southeast multifamily advisory team led the transaction process on behalf of an investor group led by Upper Saddle River, New Jersey-based commercial real estate investment, development and management firm JJM Realty Partners.
Since its founding in August 2016, Blackfin has acquired over 15,000 class B and class C value-add and core-plus apartment communities across the East Coast. Its portfolio currently consists of 10,000 units from Boston through Florida, representing a total asset value of over $2 billion.
Though the deal environment has been slower for the past few years, Root is hopeful that sellers will be more motivated to bring properties to market this year.
“There is debt that's maturing, and the longer the hold periods go, the more people's hands are going to get forced,” Root said. “There's a little more of an expectation that this is how the market is now.”
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