A New Jersey investment firm has bought the Park Oaks apartments in Cleveland, Tennessee, and the Park Crest apartments in Athens, Tennessee, for $32.5 million and plans to spend more than $2 million to refurbish and upgrade the 1980s-era apartment complexes.
The CJ Lombardo Co., a Hackensack, New Jersey-based real estate company that owns and manages more than 4,000 apartment units in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, bought the 250-unit Park Oaks apartments on Harrison Pike in Cleveland and the 160-unit Park Crest apartments on Congress Parkway in Athens.
The Cleveland apartments are being renamed to Park Hills and will soon begin an upgrade to replace appliances and fixtures and improve the exterior and landscaping of the buildings.
"We plan on doing a lot of upgrades on these properties," Lombardo said. "They are nice properties but they are 35 to 40 years old and are in need of some improvements and an infusion of good management."
With the improvements, Lombardo said the new owners expect to raise rents over time, "but we want to keep these units affordable and attractive to our residents."
The purchases expand the Lombardo holdings farther south in Tennessee, where the company also owns apartments in Knoxville, Nashville and Clinton.
"We've been doing business in Tennessee since 1996, and I have a lot of friends in Tennessee," Lombardo said. "We love doing business in Tennessee, and the rental business is very good right now."
Park Properties developed both of the apartment complexes in the 1980s and has maintained the properties since they were built.
Lombardo plans to renovate the units and hold the properties for the long term.
SVN Multifamily LLC., a leading commercial real estate brokerage firm specializing in multifamily real estate, handled the sale of Park Oak and Park Crest Apartments.
"We're happy to be involved with the development of Chattanooga and expand our business's presence in the area to better serve multifamily real estate clients," said Andrew Agee, managing director of the Huntsville, Alabama-based SVN Multifamily.
Agee said SVN Multifamily managed more than $250 million in transactions across the Southeast last year, including $80 million in transactions based in Chattanooga.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.