ORLANDO, FLA. — BWE has secured $24 million for the construction and permanent financing of Barnett Villas, an affordable housing development in Orlando. Peter Borstelmann and Jim Gillespie of BWE arranged the financing in the form of the purchase of tax-exempt bonds issued by the Florida Housing Finance Corp. (FHFC). The bonds feature a fixed interest rate, as well as three years of interest-only payments. Upon completion, Barnett Villas — which will be located at 1050 Barnett Villas Drive — will comprise 156 units in one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts. Of the units, 78 will be reserved for residents earning up to 60 percent of the area median income (AMI), 39 will be designated for residents earning up to 50 percent of AMI and 39 will be reserved for residents earning up to 70 percent of the AMI. Amenities at the property will include a fitness center, lounge and surface parking. The total project cost is $44.9 million, including $18.2 million in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) equity syndicated by Enterprise Housing Credit Investments. A construction timeline was not disclosed.
HOUSTON — Locally based developer McNair Interests has begun leasing Rowan on the Trails, a 221-unit apartment complex in Houston’s Westchase District. The project is part of a larger development, the first phase of which features the 330-unit Remy on the Trails. Residences come in studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans and range in size from 900 to 1,500 square feet. Amenities include a pool, fitness center, coworking spaces, clubroom and walking trails. Rents start at $1,650 per month for a studio apartment. Construction began in July 2023.
NEW YORK CITY — Walker & Dunlop has arranged a $110 million construction loan for a 246-unit multifamily project that will be located at 880 Atlantic Ave. in the Prospect Heights area of Brooklyn. The building will house studio, one- and two-bedroom units as well as 13,000 square feet of commercial space. Aaron Appel, Keith Kurland, Jonathan Schwartz, Adam Schwartz, Jordan Casella and William Herring of Walker & Dunlop arranged the loan on behalf of the developer, EMP Capital Group. QuadReal Property Group provided the financing.
BOSTON — Locally based development and investment firm The Davis Cos. has begun leasing Hew at 1515, a 150-unit apartment building in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood. Designed by RODE Architects, the seven-story building is part of a larger complex at 1515 Commonwealth Ave. that includes a 102-unit condo building. Units come in studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Amenities include a clubroom with a catering kitchen, fitness center, rooftop terrace and bar, coworking spaces, a multi-sport simulator and a pet spa. The first move-ins will begin this summer. Rents start at $2,770 per month for a studio apartment.
CLINTON, N.J. — Berkadia has brokered the sale of Halstead Place Apartments, a 35-unit apartment building in Clinton, about 55 miles west of New York City. Built in 2018, the property offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units with an average size of about 1,100 square feet, with 20 percent of the residences reserved as affordable housing. Amenities include a fitness center, storage lockers and outdoor grilling stations. The buyer was Acquivest Financial Group, and the seller was undisclosed. Nat Gambuzza, Zachary Pierce, Matthew Stefanski, Trevor Fiebel and Maura Spellman of Berkadia represented both parties in the transaction.
CHICAGO — SVN Chicago Commercial has brokered the $2.3 million sale of a 6,800-square-foot commercial building located at 5212 N. Clark St. in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood. Tim Rasmussen of SVN procured a local buyer who plans to convert the ground-floor commercial space into medical use. SVN also represented the undisclosed seller.
LONGMONT, COLO. — Thompson Thrift has opened Notch66, a multifamily community in Longmont, a suburb of Boulder. The community is already 30 percent leased. Sitting on 18.4 acres at 2514 Main St., Notch66 features 336 one-, two- and three-bedroom garden-style apartments. Each apartment includes quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, tile backsplashes, walk-in closets, hardwood-style flooring and full-size washers/dryers. Some apartments also include detached garages and private yards. Community amenities include a 24-hour fitness center, clubhouse, resort-style swimming pool and dog park.
SEATTLE — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the sale of Villa Luisa, a vintage mixed-use apartment and retail community in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. The asset traded for $4.5 million. The names of the seller and buyer were not released. Situated on the corner of NW 60th St. and 15th Ave. NW, Villa Luisa features 16 apartments and four ground-floor retail spaces. Originally built in 1927, the two-story building offers a mix of studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments and on-site parking. Current retail tenants are Nolita Italian bistro, The Wax Bar, a mini-mart and an art studio. Tim McKay, Dan Chhan, Matt Kemper, Jacob Odegard, Dylan Roeter and Byron Rosen of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller in the deal.
LAREDO, TEXAS — SE Legacy Development LLC, a development firm founded by the Walker Family, has broken ground on a $7.4 billion master-planned project in South Texas. The development, named Talise, will be situated on 13,000 acres north of Laredo in an unincorporated portion of Webb County. Situated at the intersection of I-35, U.S. Highway 83 and Texas Highway 255, Talise will feature thousands of single-family and multifamily residences, an industrial and manufacturing park, town center retail space, regional airport and a newly discovered water source. The name Talise is a term with Native American-Iroquoian roots meaning “lovely water.” The Walker Family, a multi-generational entity that has owned ranch land spanning more than 250,000 acres over the course of its history, owns the land for Talise and is investing $1.6 billion in the development. The Walker Family discovered the water source on the land and is proposing a way to use the resource as an alternative solution to current water shortages in Laredo and Webb County. The newly established Legacy Water Supply Corp. is proposing a method to treat 50 million gallons of water within the Talise land holdings daily. SE Legacy Development is drilling 40 water wells to access …
By Taylor Williams The multifamily markets of Austin and San Antonio — two of the fastest-growing cities in the country over the last decade — are on pace to deliver above-average volumes of new apartments in 2024, causing some industry experts to express concerns of potential oversupply. The origins of oversupply are not hard to trace, assuming the average apartment project in those markets takes about four years to complete from the time the site is identified and the entitlement and permitting processes begin to when the property is stabilized. Call it five years for some projects that experienced delays due to COVID-19. But in either case, the current wave of new product was largely financed at historically low interest rates at a time when healthy rent growth was easily underwritten. Demand was there, so developers supplied. And for similar reasons, the distress should be short-lived. With interest rates having risen by 400-plus basis points over the last two years and cuts for 2024 looking increasingly less likely, 2025 should be a year of very few new construction starts. Many owners that are delivering product this year will want to allow time for excess supply to be absorbed and see …