JACKSONVILLE, FL – Robbins Electra, a national multifamily owner-operator that has been rapidly growing its portfolio over the past 12 months, announced the strategic acquisition of yet another quality multifamily asset in Florida: Maple Glen, a 358-unit apartment community in Orange Park, Florida.

The property was bought from Starwood, and will be rebranded as The Parkland at Orange Park.

This is Robbins Electra’s eighth property in the Jacksonville region, where multifamily market fundamentals remain strong, and its first acquisition of 2017.

Last year, the company completed over $1 billion in multifamily acquisitions across the southeastern U.S. Robbins Electra’s portfolio now includes more than 22,000 apartment units totaling over $2.5 billion in value.

Robbins Electra will carry out a multimillion dollar property renovation, upgrading apartment interiors and adding or enhancing community amenities.

“We were excited by the opportunity to buy another quality multifamily asset in the vibrant Jacksonville metropolitan area and add it to our growing national portfolio,” said Joe Lubeck, CEO of Robbins Electra. “This is one more step in our mission to provide high-quality, reasonably priced, rental housing and outstanding living environments to the hard-working people in our communities.”

The Parkland at Orange Park is located at 1863 Wells Road, convenient to major traffic corridors and retail destinations such as the Orange Park Mall and Home Depot. The low-rise property is composed of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with average monthly rents of approximately $850. The community offers residents resort-style amenities, including a business center, clubhouse, fitness center, two swimming pools, among others. The property is currently 95% occupied.    

Robbins Electra is national multifamily owner-operator specializing in multifamily acquisition, repositioning and property management.  It owns and operates properties in Georgia, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia. 

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ATLANTA, GA – In a time when affordable housing is hard to find, Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) works to preserve viable options for low-income, senior and disabled Atlanta residents. The Atlanta Housing Authority, along with Columbia Residential, JM Wilkerson, Wells Fargo and others, hosted a Hard Hat Celebration to publicly mark the preservation.

The high rise at Juniper and 10th streets, in the heart of one of the city’s most sought-after neighborhoods, is being completely renovated and modernized to provide 149 high-quality senior and non-elderly disabled housing units.  The majority of the existing residents will return to the building upon completion of the renovations.

“The charge to preserve affordable housing for Atlantans is top priority for us at AHA,” said Catherine Buell, president and CEO of Atlanta Housing Authority. “To make it a win-win for all requires collaboration and commitment of strategic partners, just as we have with Juniper and 10th.”

Daniel Halpern, chairman of the AHA Board of Commissioners said, “The board is proud of the work Catherine Buell and the AHA staff have done to bring this project to fruition. In order to expand affordable housing in Atlanta, we have to ensure that we maintain what we already have. We’re doing exactly that at Juniper and Tenth.”

“Columbia Residential is pleased to partner with the Atlanta Housing Authority and our other partners in their effort to provide affordable housing in close proximity to the services the residents will most need,” said Noel Khalil, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Columbia Residential. “We all know about the demand for affordable housing options in our region, and we are proud to work with an entity like the AHA that champions our work to maintain quality housing opportunities for those who need it most.”

During renovations, residents were relocated to other affordable housing with the option to return upon renovation completion. Renovations are expected to be completed by December 2017.

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HOUSTON, TX – Real estate industry veterans Chetan Davé and Martin Lamb recently closed on the first multifamily property acquisition of their new investment fund, Clearlake Urban Transitions Multifamily Fund I.

The 67-unit, Class C property, the Delta One Apartments, is in the gentrifying greater Oak Forest neighborhood, just northwest of The Loop in Houston.

“This first fund acquisition, while on the small side for us, is consistent with our strategy to buy infill, under-invested Class B and C apartments properties in neighborhoods undergoing positive transition, implement exterior and interior improvements, and offer an enhanced value proposition to tenants,” said Davé.

The strategy is familiar to them.  Previously, the pair were involved in a down-to-the-studs renovation of a 48-unit complex in the nearby Heights area of Houston, where they nearly doubled their investment in less than two years. 

Overall, the investment is Davé and Lamb’s fifth multifamily investment together since they both returned to the US four years ago.  Both are Wall Street veterans; Davé was an executive at JPMorgan Partners in New York for 8 years, while Lamb worked at Northstar Capital, the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds and AIG Global Real Estate. 

Davé was also Chief Investment Officer at Transwestern in Houston before helping launch and lead the $630 million Sun-Apollo Real Estate Fund, the first institutional opportunistic investment fund focused on India. Lamb subsequently worked in senior roles in development and real estate investment management with Morgan Stanley and Russell Investments in Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney, Australia.

Davé and Lamb met twenty years ago in Manhattan and reconnected later in Singapore; collectively they embody more than 50 years of institutional real estate investment experience. Now, with their Fund’s first closing accomplished, they are seeking similar investments through Texas and southeastern US, including Florida. 

Lamb added, “We feel there is a lot of opportunity out there, as many well-located older properties need fresh capital and a well-thought-out business plot to achieve their potential.  All new supply is Class A, so new competition is less of a worry for us than hitting the sweet spot between improving the properties while not pricing yourself out of your target tenant market.”

The Fund, sponsored by Clearlake Management LLC, has offices in Houston, TX and Naples, Florida, and continues to raise capital.  Davé said, “Our high-net-worth and family office investors are telling us that, when facing a volatile equity market and a bond market battling rising interest rates, hard assets like real estate with low volatility, strong current return and some inflation hedging characteristics are attractive to them, and we do agree.”

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