Houston Apartment Community Changes Ownership
Located in the heart of Houston’s Energy Corridor, the Ashford Apartments was purchased by Allied Orion Group in its first multifamily acquisition in 19 years.
Ashford Apartments. Image courtesy of Allied Orion Group
Allied Orion Group has acquired Ashford Apartments, a 312-unit property in Houston’s Energy Corridor, from Trammel Crow Residential.
“The appeal of this property is that it’s newly built and it didn’t flood during Hurricane Harvey, which is really good,” Ricardo Rivas, Allied Orion Group’s principal & CEO, told Multi-Housing News. “It has a lot of visibility and a lot of drive by traffic as well.”
The deal marks Allied Orion Group’s first multifamily purchase in 19 years and is part of a new strategy that was undertaken when Rivas was named the firm’s CEO last May. He said that strategy includes expanding the portfolio by acquiring existing Class A and B assets.
“Our current philosophy is to grow our own assets in property management and this is one way of accomplishing that,” Rivas said. “We’ll be looking for more assets to acquire to further grow the company.”
Located at 1200 N. Dairy Ashford Road, the property was built in 2017 and originally called Alexan Ashford.
The Ashford Apartments feature upscale one- and two-bedroom units, all with granite countertops, upgraded wood cabinetry with clear cabinet door accents and garden tubs. Tech amenities include a Bluetooth speaker package, a Butterfly MX video intercom for residents, and nest thermostats.
One change the company has made since acquiring the property is it’s changed the clubhouse hours to remain open later into the night.
Although it hasn’t acquired an apartment community in some time, Allied Orion Group’s portfolio does include the development of more than 13,000 units and a little under 23,000 apartment homes under management.
Rising Energy Corridor
The property is situated near I-10 and Dairy Ashford, directly inside Houston’s expanding Energy Corridor.
“Right now, there is a lot of office space in the Energy Corridor that at some point will fill up with either oil & gas companies or a mixture of other industries,” Rivas said. “When that happens, it will add more apartment demand into the submarket.”
A recent report by 29th Street Capital revealed that this area’s Class A apartment market is largely in demand thanks to improved fundamentals following a period of decreasing occupancies and increasing concessions brought on by a heavy development pipeline.
In fact, the most recent U.S. Census Bureau ranked the Houston metro region second in the U.S. for population growth in 2018. In addition to that, the city is the nation’s top performer in employment growth.
