Dantes Acquires 900 Prince George's County Apartments With Plan To Preserve Affordability
Hundreds of workforce housing units in Prince George's County will remain affordable as part of a $164M deal to sell the property.
Dantes Community Partners, in a joint venture with New York-based Jonathan Rose Cos., acquired the Avanti Apartments, a 930-unit property in District Heights, Maryland, the firm announced Monday.
The new owners plan to maintain 372 of the apartments as income-restricted affordable housing through a long-term covenant recorded with the county. Of those 372 units, half will be reserved for those making up to 50% of the area median income, and the other half will be kept at 80% AMI.
Dantes received a $40M commitment in May from Citi as part of the bank's initiative to invest in Black-led investment managers to preserve workforce and affordable housing.
CBRE brokered the sale, and Walker & Dunlop arranged financing for the project using Fannie Mae debt. Faria Management, an affiliate of Dantes, will manage the property.
The Avanti Apartments at 6501 Hil-Mar Drive sit just off Pennsylvania Avenue, about 4 miles east of the D.C.-Maryland border. It consists of 26 garden-style apartment buildings with apartments ranging from one-to-three-bedroom units. Its amenities include two swimming pools, a clubhouse, fitness center, dog park, picnic area and playground.
Dantes Managing Principal Buwa Binitie told Bisnow the team plans to invest $10M in renovations over the life of the project, including $4.2M in the first year. He said the property was attractive to his firm in part because it is located near two of the firm's multifamily projects, the Livingston Place at Southern affordable senior building and the Cascade Park apartments.
"It aligns with our mission as a firm in terms of acquiring and preserving affordable housing units," Binitie said. "It’s within proximity to other sites that we’ve acquired and are currently in the midst of renovating as well, so there are a lot of synergies there."
Dantes Community Partners, an affiliate of D.C.-based developer Dantes Partners that focuses on acquiring housing, is led by Operating Principal Sharif Mitchell. The firm continues to pursue the acquisition of income-restricted and naturally occurring affordable housing properties, Mitchell said in a release.
