AMCAL Equities Acquires Houston Property

Circuit Apartments. Image courtesy of AMCAL Equities LLC

AMCAL Equities LLC has purchased Circuit Apartments in Houston. The seller is a Dallas-based national developer. Lane Kommer, senior vice president in the land and investments division of Henry S. Miller Brokerage, represented the buyer. 

Situated at 2424 Capital St. in Houston’s East Downtown district, Circuit Apartments was built in 2015 and features 311 units. Apartments are offered in studio units of 567 square feet, one-bedroom apartments measuring from 604 to 930 square feet and two-bedroom apartment homes extending in size from 1,187 to more than 1,300 square feet.

Features and finishes of the community’s apartment homes include balconies, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, walk-in closets and hardwood flooring. Circuit Apartments’ common-area amenities include an entertainment lounge with Wi-Fi cafe.

East Downtown, known as EaDo and near the University of Houston, has grown in popularity in recent years among the university’s students and faculty.

Abandoned warehouses and industrial buildings have undergone adaptive reuse, turning into breweries, nightlife spots and housing. Circuit Apartments is within steps of BBVA Stadium, Minute Maid Park, and the George R. Brown Convention Center. In addition, the apartment community is near a number of movie theater complexes, as well as Houston Grand Opera, Broadway Houston and Student Center Theater. Also nearby are popular eateries, stores and entertainment, as well as a station along Houston’s METRORail.

Cooperative seller

“In the current COVID-19 environment, it was extremely difficult for us, our lenders and third-party consultants to conduct on-site due diligence, and those tasks took longer than normal to complete,” Percy Vaz, CEO of AMCAL Equities LLC, told Multi-Housing News.

“AMCAL was fortunate to work with a cooperative seller who helped arrange access when possible and provided additional time to complete some of the work. AMCAL was able to overcome the challenges thanks to a strong relationship with our lenders and our ability to get them comfortable with the asset and submarket, notwithstanding COVID. Furthermore, AMCAL’s reputation within the development community gave the seller confidence that we could close even under these difficult times.”

Elsewhere in Houston, PCCP recently recapitalized the city’s iconic “Star,” a one-time Texaco headquarters building later transformed into a Class A, mixed-use asset featuring luxury apartments.