Affordable apartments inside the Beltway and close to Metro are an increasingly hot commodity, and owners in Suitland are capitalizing on the market's momentum.

Hampshire Properties sold the 359-unit garden-style apartment community, Capital Crossing, for $53M to Castle Lanterra Properties, Transwestern Commercial Services said Thursday. The buildings have already begun a renovation process and are 95% leased, Transwestern said, but 200 more units have renovation — and therefore value-add — potential.

The acquisition gives Castle Lanterra, based on Long Island, New York, a foothold in the D.C. Metro area — its closest property is an apartment building in Baltimore, according to its website.

The deal was brokered by Transwestern's Mid-Atlantic Multifamily Group: Robin Williams, Dean Sigmon, Justin Shay and Michael D’Amelio. The team closed earlier this month on the sale of Ashton Heights, a 283-unit apartment building across the street from Capital Crossing, for $45.8M.

“Investor interest was extremely strong for both Capital Crossing and Ashton Heights Apartments,” Sigmon said in a release. “In this region, assets with such low vacancy that offer yield investment opportunities and organic rent growth are scarce.”

Castle Lanterra bought the 15-building, 59-year-old property because of its "strong belief in the economic vitality of the Andrews/Suitland submarket," the investment firm said in a release. It plans to upgrade common areas and laundry facilities, install key fob access and add an outdoor kitchen with picnic areas.

"Local zoning was recently overhauled to spur transit-oriented development, and with several mixed-use projects underway, this region is well-positioned to harness continued growth,” Castle Lanterra CEO Elie Rieder said in a statement. “While the apartment construction will bring thousands of new units to the market, the new properties under development are confined primarily to the luxury segment and will have monthly rents around $1,000 higher than those in Capital Crossing."

The sale also continues the trend of outside investors entering the D.C. market through Prince George's County, searching for value-add investments close to Metro that have long been snapped up in most of D.C.'s jurisdiction.

Prince George's County is "not a local secret anymore," Melnick Real Estate Advisors founder Scott Melnick said at Bisnow's Future of Prince George's County State of the Market event last week. "There are investors throughout the country and the world that are here."