Harbor Group Buys DFW Apartment Community

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

Arlington, Texas—Harbor Group International LLC (HGI) has acquired the 660-unit Forest Ridge apartment community in Arlington, Texas, a major suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The property is currently 93.5 percent occupied.

Though the sale price wasn’t disclosed, HGI says it will invest an additional $2.5 million in capital improvements to modernize the property, upgrade amenities and improve curb appeal. The gated property, which was built in 1984 and consisting of 660 units on 44 acres of land, features one- and two-bedroom floor plans with an average unit size of 843 square feet.

Property amenities include a business center, fitness center, high-speed Internet, pet park, clubhouse, and extra storage. There are also five swimming pools, two lighted tennis courts, a hot tub, picnic areas, two hydrotherapy spas, volleyball courts and sunrooms. The property isn’t far from the Ballpark at Arlington, where the Texas Rangers play, and the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

The Metroplex multifamily market has been booming recently according to every metric. Effective rents, according to investment specialist Marcus & Millichap, will rise by the end of this year by 4.5 percent to $863 a month. About 13,500 new units are coming on line this year, compared to 7,455 in 2012, and while that influx of new product has kept vacancies from dropping lately, no one is talking about overbuilding.

That’s because employment continues to rise in the metro area—and business services sectors are doing most of the hiring. “The apartment market in the area has shown consistent growth which is expected to continue,” notes HGI president T. Richard Litton Jr.

Norfolk, Va.-based HGI currently holds more than 24,500 apartment units (with about 4,440 in Texas) and about 8.5 million square feet of commercial properties.