Buying into rentals
Since the start of 2016, investor groups have purchased more than $250 million of apartments in Hamilton County* Legends at White Oak in Collegedale sold for $41.8 million* Village at Apison sold for $31.9 million* Elements of Chattanooga on Standifer Gap Road sold for $31 million* Bridgeway at Chattanooga on McCutcheon Road sold for $29.5 million* The Distrct at Hamilton Place on Gunbarrel Road sold for $28 million* Arbor Creek Apatments on Standifer Gap Road sold for $26.6 million* Standifer Place Apartment Homes on Jenkins Road sold for $25.5 million* Mountain Creek Apartments on Mountain Creek Road for $20 million* Mountain Brook Apartments on Mountain Creek Road sold for $18.5 million* Chalet at Northshore Apartments in Red Bank sold for $4.8 millionSource: Hamilton County Register of Deeds
Less than six months after the sale of the biggest apartment complex in Collegedale to a Texas investment group, one of Collegedale's other biggest apartment communities has been acquired by a New Jersey-based real estate company.
The Village at Apison, a 248-unit apartment complex that opened in 2015, was sold last month for $31.9 million to Hudson Capital Apison LLC, a real estate partnership formed by the Hudson Group in East Rutherford, N.J. The new owners say they have no immediate plans to change the Collegedale housing facility, which includes one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments renting from $895 to $1,510 per month.
The investors are paying the equivalent of $128,629 per apartment unit for the Village at Apison, which is located just a couple of miles from the Volkswagen and Amazon complexes in the Enterprise South Industrial Park.
Village at Apison is located next to another major apartment taking shape on Apison Pike, the Hawthorne at the Summit, which began leasing to occupants in January and by June is scheduled to have 286 one, two- and three-bedroom apartments for rent. The Hawthorne complex is being developed by Hawthorne Residential Partners, a real estate development and rental business based in Greensboro, N.C. The Hawthorne units will rent from $879 to $1,465 a month.
The higher rents for new apartments in the Chattanooga area are spurring interest from outside investors in the market.
Over the past three years, nearly $300 million of multi-family housing sales have been made to investment firms headquartered outside of Chattanooga. Last September, the Legends at White Oak in Collegedale sold for $41.8 million to Olympus Property, based in Fort Worth, Tex., in the biggest apartment sale ever in Hamilton County.
Investors are being lured to the Chattanooga market by historically low interest rates, rising rental rates and Chattanooga's improving economy and real estate values. Despite the Federal Reserve Bank's move to raise short-term interest rates last week, borrowing costs are still historically low.
"Investors are looking for better returns and smaller and mid-sized markets like Chattanooga are getting more attractive because there are often better buys and more growth potential," said David DeVaney, president of NAI Charter Real Estate who tracks the local market. "Chattanooga also is seen an appealing city for people to move to and it hasn't been overbuilt like some markets."
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340