News
RADCO's Big Multifamily Stake
January 3, 2013
| What began about a year ago with one Marietta apartment complex now has RADCO Cos going full force buying into Atlanta multifamily. (Atlanta is like Pringles: Once you pop, you can't stop.) | ||
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| While we were all out shopping for holiday gifts, CEO Norman Radco was out buying a boatload of apartment complexes across metro Atlanta, increasing his portfolio to 3,000 units. The $48M portfolio was purchased from four sellers, including REOs and from receivership. And Norman is under contract for even more as he taps pools of capital very hungry for multifamily investment. ?It was a natural for us,? Norman (seen here at KSU?s stadium) says of jumping into the apartment business (he did do a lot of condos back during the boom). ?There is liquidity in multifamily, and the fundamentals make value-add multifamily the perfect fit for us today.? | ||
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| The properties include the 132-unit Audubon Town & Country in Fairburn (above); 94-unit Audubon Brook in Conyers; 98-unit Audubon Way in Lawrenceville; Bella Villas and Wyntree (more than 200 units of apartments and townhomes combined) in Doraville; 104-unit Meadowbrook Manor in Lilburn; and 144-unit The Pavilion at Decatur near Emory U. ?These are not Class-A core assets. These are assets that require a lot of elbow grease,? Norman says. RADCO has a value-add strategy— improve operating performance, add capital where needed and raise rents. Then either sell or refinance them. | ||
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| Not all the assets were struggling. RADCO also paid $22.5M for Park Lake (above), a 328-unit apartment complex in Norcross that is 96% occupied and acquired from an institutional owner. Nonetheless, RADCO is mainly focused on Class-B and C multifamily properties with a value-add component. Norman says jumping into apartments wasn't that much a stretch from building condos. ?We shifted because we recognized that renting is the future,? he says. Gone are the days where someone can get 110% leverage to buy a $450k home earning less than $50k a year. ?The C-plus to B-plus tenants are going to be tenants for a long, long time. Maybe their whole lives.? |
