Baltimore — On the heels of closing a $190 million portfolio deal, Jones Lang LaSalle reports excellent conditions in the multifamily markets for the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. regions. Most recently, on behalf of SRH/CMS Berkshire Limited Partnership, the firm’s Capital Markets experts have facilitated the sale of a portfolio of multifamily properties in metropolitan Baltimore. Harbor Group International purchased the six-property, 1,984-unit portfolio for $190.1 million.
Leading the Jones Lang LaSalle team on this assignment were Managing Directors Al Cissel and Scott Melnick and Senior Vice President Christine Espenshade.
“This portfolio, while all in the same submarket, offers a range of different product types for potential renters making it appealing on numerous levels,” says Cissel. “There was a significant amount of interest in the portfolio due to its size, as we continue to see investors looking for large acquisitions that offer increasing cash flow and economies of scale. This portfolio was attractive to the buyer because of the upside potential as there a number upgraded and achieving higher rents.”
The properties included in the portfolio are:
- Crosswinds at Rolling Road, 808 units at 7500 Hithergreen Drive in Baltimore (pictured below)
- Diamond Ridge, 92 units at 2 Heatherton Court in Windsor Mill
- The Glens at Rolling Road, 270 units at 2300 Noonham Road in Baltimore
- Granite Run, 264 units at 7414 Brixworth Court in Windsor Mill (pictured on front page)
- Rolling Wind, 280 units at 2420 Bibury Lane in Windsor Mill
- Stratton Meadows, 270 units at 4 Heatherton Court in Baltimore
All of the properties are situated near the intersection of the Baltimore Beltway (I-695) and I-70.
“Baltimore as a whole seems to be pretty healthy,” says Cissel. “We’re seeing employment growth, and it’s headed upward on all the fundamentals.”
HGI plans to invest an additional approximately $7.75 million (approximately $3,900/unit) into various exterior and interior renovations to the portfolio.
“This acquisition represents a great opportunity to acquire a portfolio of well-located, adjacent apartment communities which afford us immediate size and scale in a dynamic, extremely healthy submarket,” said T. Richard Litton, Jr., President of HGI.
On top of this transaction, the Jones Lang LaSalle Capital Markets team has closed two other large portfolio deals within the past few months. First, the team brokered the sale of a 2,580-unit multifamily portfolio in suburban Washington, D.C. to a 50/50 joint venture of Pantzer Properties, Inc. and Dune Real Estate. The $460 million sale, which was finalized in March, was the largest multifamily transaction in the country, outside of New York, since 2008. The second deal included seven properties in Maryland and Virginia totaling 1,626 units, which closed less than 2 months ago for $286 million.
“Due to the fundamentals here, we’re hearing that D.C. metro is pretty much the top multifamily market in the country,” says Cissel. “It’s a very safe investment — supply and demand is in check, there’s a lot of employment growth, and it's a very attractive location and product type for capital. A lot of global institutional money wants to be in multifamily in the U.S., and a majority of the deals here have international money in them.”
— Dan Marcec