TAMPA, FL – San Francisco area based Praxis Capital announced that it has bought the 232-unit Class B Villages at Turtle Creek in Tampa, Florida – its second acquisition in the third quarter of 2017. Praxis plans to build a portfolio of approximately 2,000 units in the central Florida market.

The Praxis executive team, possessing more than $6.3 billion of transactional experience in the multifamily sector, including institutional management of more than 90,000 apartment units, seeks to build a large portfolio of Class B/C workforce housing, consistently unlocking embedded value in multifamily real estate. Praxis also looks to expand its relationships with Family Office and Institutional JV Equity sources.

Using the conservative underwriting and extensive due diligence for which Praxis is known, the firm performed an exhaustive search before seizing this high potential opportunity. “Similarly upgraded nearby properties are achieving $362 rent premiums over the in-place rent at Villages at Turtle Creek, making this an ideal value-add play,” says Brian Burke, President of Praxis Capital. “We’ve had tremendous success employing similar strategies with properties in other states and this property holds promise for brilliant cash flow with upside potential. We foresee this as a very desirable property for both our residents and investors.”

The Class B Villages at Turtle Creek offers a tremendous value-add opportunity. Built in 1985 and situated on over 11.5 acres, the 15-building property has 232 one- and two-bedroom units, ranging from 450 to 1,010 square feet, all with in-unit washer/dryer connections.  Praxis plans to invest nearly $3 million to renovate and upgrade the property.

The property is being managed by Praxis’ wholly-owned subsidiary, PM Residential Management LLC.

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NEW ORLEANS, LA – 365 Connect, a leading provider of award-winning marketing, leasing, and resident technology platforms for the multifamily housing industry, announced the acquisition of uCribs, the largest search site dedicated to apartments near universities. The acquisition will expand the reach of 365 Connect into off-campus housing markets throughout the nation, adding millions of rental units to its marketing platform.

uCribs is one of the most unique housing search engines in the industry, enabling renters to search for apartments based on the location of their university. With Gen-Z renters primarily in mind, uCribs curates its own property listings by working directly with landlords and select data partners to provide a one-stop shop for its users. With its robust data capture infrastructure, uCribs measures housing trends across college campuses, sharing insights with its growing audience who want to know the off-campus rental housing market.

365 Connect founder and CEO Kerry W. Kirby stated, “We are excited to add uCribs to the already robust marketing automation solutions we provide to the apartment industry. As the demand for data-driven marketing tools is rapidly increasing, uCribs will add valuable market insights to our platform in an underserved sector. This acquisition aligns perfectly with our strategy to bring efficiency to the multifamily housing industry by consolidating marketing, transactional, and service components into a unified solution.” 

The acquisition builds on a data exchange partnership the two companies developed over the last year, where 365 Connect’s Marketing Syndication Platform distributed rental inventory listings with real-time pricing and availability to uCribs. With the acquisition, 365 Connect can further the scope of its platform to serve the off-campus housing market with data-rich marketing, analytical, and transactional tools.

Tom Gooding, lead investor of the London-based investment group that founded uCribs, clarified, “We’re proud of our successes since launching uCribs five years ago. We set out with a single goal of becoming the largest apartment search site dedicated to locating housing near universities. Today, uCribs has more high-quality listings surrounding college campuses than any other apartment search site, making it the best source for finding housing and neighborhood related information. The acquisition by 365 Connect presents exciting opportunities to do our core vision on a much grander scale, as 365 Connect has the reach and resources to take uCribs to the next level.”

365 Connect will transition uCribs technology, product development, operations, sales, and customer-support groups into its own operations to ensure continuity of services. Plans include fully integrating uCribs with its marketing automation and analytics platform, User Experience and User Interface Design (UI/UX) enhancements, and making package offerings of transactional resident lifecycle products.

365 Connect bought the assets of uCribs in an all-cash transaction. Adam Haynes and David Bluth, managing directors of GLC Advisors & Co. Technology Mergers and Acquisitions Team, served as exclusive advisors to 365 Connect.

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LOS ANGELES, CA – KTGY Architecture + Plotting has unveiled designs for Hope on Alvarado, a new building that will be the first of a series of housing developments in highly walkable communities, providing support services for individuals transitioning from homelessness. The building, west of downtown in the Westlake District of Los Angeles, is moving quickly through the development process and is slated to start a six-month construction period in the first part of 2018. The accelerated construction is due to a unique design incorporating shipping containers as a primary building material.

Aedis Real Estate Group is the developer of the building. It is the first of a series of Hope developments in Los Angeles to be built within the next year using the shipping-container design. The plot is to continue this forward-thinking, cost-effective model for affordable housing in dense, urban areas from San Diego to Seattle.

“One major advantage of using shipping containers is the dramatic reduction in construction time. While sitework and foundations are being constructed on site, the containers are being manufactured off site, including most interior finishes and fittings,” said Mark Oberholzer AIA, LEED AP, associate principal with KTGY Architecture + Plotting.

“We’re not trying to hide the fact that these are shipping containers,” added Keith Labus AIA, LEED AP, principal of KTGY Architecture + Plotting. “There would be fantastic costs associated with making the level of character they already have. Our approach is to work with what we have and develop something unique at each location.”

KTGY’s design is centered on a central courtyard, providing privacy and encouraging safety and a sense of community. Floor-to-ceiling glazing distinguishes the support-services office space on the street-level. The development is designed to LEED standards but is not seeking certification. The speed of construction and efficient use of building materials is among the project’s sustainable attributes.

The four-tale Hope on Alvarado will offer 84 units of studios and one-bedroom apartments on a .44-acre site at 166 S. Alvarado Street. Unit plot sizes are 400-480 square feet. Located within the building, parking spaces will be provided for social services staff and each resident will have a bike-storage space.

The Hope Homeless Housing developments are financed by LSA Capital in partnership with Project Sponsor Jerry Jacobs with Scott Baldridge and Leslie Weiss, working with the Foundation for Affordable Housing. The shipping containers converted into prefabricated dwelling units are sourced locally in Los Angeles.

Each of the residential apartments is made using several containers, which are modified by removing the doors and parts of the exterior metal skin and adding floor-to-ceiling windows and interior fixtures and finishes. The containers are transported by truck to the site and a crane is used to fit and stack them together into a single building. Appliances are furnished on site.

Celebrating 25 years, KTGY Architecture + Plotting is an international award-winning full-service architecture and plotting firm delivering innovation, artistry and attention to detail across multiple offices and studios, ensuring that clients and communities get the best the firm has to offer no matter the building type or location. KTGY’s architects and planners combine huge picture opportunities, leading-edge sustainable practices and impeccable design standards to help make developments of enduring value. KTGY serves clients worldwide from offices located in Chicago, Denver, Irvine, Los Angeles, Oakland, Pune and Tysons.

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