In its biggest investment yet in the Chattanooga market, a Knoxville-based real estate developer and management firm has acquired the Standifer Place Apartments on Jenkins Road for $35 million and is rebranding the 22-year-old complex as the "Scenic Ridge" apartments.
The Dominion Group, which has already built an assisted living center and bought another apartment complex in Hixson and is currently building $20 million of apartments near Northgate Mall, bought the 240-unit Standifer Place apartments to expand onto the East Brainerd rental market. The new owners are working to make roof repairs and landscaping upgrades at the facility following the April tornadoes that swept through East Brainerd and Ooltewah on Easter night and will then develop a capital plan for the facility.
"This quality property is in a strategic location and has been well cared for by previous ownership and fortunately escaped most of the damage that some other properties had in this area," said Kevin O'Brien, director of development for the Dominion Group in Knoxville. "This purchase represents Dominion's confidence in the Chattanooga market and Dominion's desire to be a responsible part of this area's continued growth."
O'Brien said his company sees Chattanooga as a growing rental market, especially among suburban rental properties, even after the recent or planned addition of thousands more apartment units in the market.
The purchase of the property this month was the second such apartment acquisition for Dominion in Chattanooga in the past eight months following its 11.3 million purchase in December of the Ridgeside Apartments on Hixson Pike.
The latest purchase equates to $145,333 per unit at the Standifer Place, which was built in 1998 and includes 76 one-bedroom, 134 two-bedroom and 30 three-bedroom units. O'Brien said the complex is over 95% occupied.
The previous owner, an investment group organized by Graycliff Capital in Greenville, South Carolina, bought the Ooltewah property and its 253,440 square feet of buildings in 2016 for $25.5 million, according to Hamilton County property records.
The complex includes such community features as a swimming pool, clubhouse, picnic area with grills, fitness center, tennis and basketball court, pet park, car center and laundry.
Photo by Dave Flessner / The Standifer Place apartments on Jenkins Road, which is being renamed Scenic Ridge apartments after its sale this month, includes such amenities as a swimming pool, tennis courts, clubhouse, fitness center, picnic area, pet park and laundry.Dominion's multi-family division owns and operates 15 apartments in Tennessee and North Carolina which collectively have about 2,500 units and Dominion's senior living portfolio in Tennessee, Kentucky and South Carolina has 15 facilities with a total of about 1,000 units.
Dominion's $35 million purchase of Standifer Place is the fourth biggest dollar purchase of an apartment facility in Hamilton County, but it is one of 11 such purchases in the past seven years by outside investment groups of local apartment facilities that were valued at over $30 million each. Collectively, over the past decade, real estate investment businesses and partnerships have invested more than $500 million in multi-famly housing projects in Hamilton County, according to county property records.
"Facing the Covid-19 pandemic, job furloughs and downturn in the stock market, the Hamilton County real estate market remains very strong," said Marc Gravitt, the Hamilton County Register of Deeds.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.
Chattanooga’s biggest apartment sales
Since 2013, outside investors have bought 11 apartment complexes in Chattanooga for more than $30 million each.1. The 283-unit Bluebird Row Apartments at the Chattanooga Choo Choo was sold to a San Francisco investment group, for $63.15 million in March, 2020.2. The Legends at White Oak in Collegedale sold for $41.8 million in September 2016 to Olympus Property in Fort Worth, Texas.3. The 260-unit Hunters Point apartment complex at 7401 Allenmande Way in East Brainerd was sold to a California-based real estate investment firm for $35.8 million4. Dominion Group in Knoxville bought the 240-unit Standifer Place Apartments on Jenkins Road for $35 million in July 2020.5. Amberleigh Ridge Apartments on East Brainerd Road sold for $33.7 million in March, 2013 to an investment group based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.6. An investment group organized by The Shoptaw Group in Atlanta purchased The Shallowford Apartment Homes with 252 apartments in East Brainerd for $32 million.7. Village at Apison sold for $31.9 million to a partnership organized by the Hudson Group in East Rutherford, New Jersey in 2017.8. Integra Hills Apartments on Little Debbie Parkway in Collegedale sold for $31.7 million in August, 20149. Elements of Chattanooga, a 260-unit apartment complex on Standifer Gap Road, sold for $31 million to POH Hunters Point LLC in Hollywood, Florida.10. An Austin, Texas investment company, GVA Property Management, purchased the Riverview Grande Apartments in North Chattanooga for $31 million in May 2019.11. A Birmingham, Alabama-based real estate investment firm bought the 280-unit Rise at Signal Mountain apartment complex on Mountain Creek Road for $30 million in January 2020.Source: Hamilton County Register of Deeds