Austin Great Market for Multifamily

CWS Capital Partners prez Gary Carmell (a panelist) says he's been aggressively expanding his multifamily platform since 2011, capitalizing on demographics and the trend to renting. That's included 10 acquisitions in the Austin area, mostly in the suburbs (nationwide, it's bought 40). But now it's got three developments in various stages, primarily in the urban core. Its project at 7th and Rio (CWS is building it with Behringer) will start welcoming residents in February, and the firm is underway on the second phase of Marquis at Barton Trails. (CWS bought the existing building and an adjacent tract and will double the unit count to 300.)

CWS purchased two buildings on South Congress near the Statesman; it's tearing down one to replace with a luxury community. It should break ground on 264 units in November. Gary's next development will also be in an urban area—he's closing on the site in Q1. The firm's not abandoning the acquisitions game, either; Gary's targeting one locally that should close by year-end. CWS has been in Austin in some form or fashion since 1979--it focused on manufacturing housing communities as Clayton, Williams & Sherwood, but sold out of that sector, changed its name, and bought its first apartment in 1990. Gary says the market has ebbed and flowed since, but the positive factors are still there (and often stronger than ever). We've hit critical mass to attract national players in all sectors, and our quality of life will keep us growing for the foreseeable future. 

By the end of 2015, Virtus Real Estate Capital plans to deploy an additional $30M to $40M in self-storage investments. (If only your old guitar you stored there was worth that.) Virtus acquisitions director Scott Humphreys (with wife, Courtney) tells us about $6M to $8M should be invested by year-end on projects in areas with high visibility and retail locations and heavy traffic counts in high-growth MSAs with at least 500k people.

The latest acquisition is for a 66k SF facility in Norman, down the street from OU. Scott tells us self-storage is a highly fragmented market with REITs owning roughly 10% of total product with a tremendous amount of local or regional ownership. That creates incredible opportunities for upside and value-add, he says. Virtus owns 46 self-storage facilities across 10 states. When he's not working, Scott likes to spend time on a golf course or outdoors.