News
WHERE TO FIND OPPORTUNITY
October 15, 2012
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| Pantzer Properties' Jason Pantzer (with bro colleague Jordan), who's also speaking at our event, tells us that even if distressed multifamily acquisitions are rarer, partnership breakups and other special opportunities will continue. That means his firm still will be able to find the $250M to $500M acquisitions it targets (three to six a year is the goal). Perhaps a minority partner wants out, a fund in the JV is unwinding, debt on other properties in a fund's portfolio is coming due, one party is overlevered, the property is mismanaged or deprived of capital—there are plenty of reasons for a JV to dissipate, and that's where Pantzer steps in, as in its $168M acquisition of the Silver Spring, Md., Georgian high-rise it purchased out of bankruptcy last month and the $460M purchase from RREEF and Bainbridge Capital of the 2,580-unit, DC-area Magazine portfolio last year. |
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| Harbor Group International CEO Jordan Slone says lenders and builders should be responsible for avoiding oversupply. Though his company is not a developer, Harbor Group's due diligence on any acquisition includes research on nearby development sites and recent permits. The company's multifamily holdings in NYC, four Washington Heights properties, came about through a note purchase. Harbor and Jadam Equities bought the note from Credit Suisse and then foreclosed on owners Vantage Properties and AREA Property Partners, an example of the partnership dissolutions Jason mentioned above. Multifamily fundamentals will remain solid, Jordan tells us, but rental growth could slow in the coming years. Harbor Group's latest deal: financing a $130M transaction with JP Morgan on the 1,200-plus unit Villages at Morgan Metro in Landover, Md. (right near the Redskins home field, but we'll forgive them). |
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| In the past 10 days, JLL's Scott Melnick says his firm's Mid-Atlantic multifamily team has put $600M worth of transactions under agreement. And the buyers aren't just locals familiar with the market but national and international. Dealmaking usually speeds up as companies focus on shoring things up by year's end, but capital is much more enthusiastic than it was this time last year, he tells us. (Capital must have had a pep rally.) And though fears of a slowdown in government spending have curbed office and industrial leasing, sequestration would mean more apartment renters than homebuyers. Sign up now to hear from David, Jason, Jordan, Scott, and others—plus all that networking you love—next month, Nov. 19 and 20. |
