LYND Buys Houston Value-Add Apartments

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

Houston—Lynd Residential Properties (LRP), the multifamily investment vehicle of LYND, has acquired the Limestone apartment community in the Briar Forest-Ashwood submarket of Houston. The buyer paid an unspecified price in an off-market transaction.

The previous owner, Post Investment Group, acquired the 21-building property out of bankruptcy in 2009 and made basic improvements during its ownership. San Antonio-based LRP financed the transaction utilizing Fannie Mae non-recourse financing and also prepaid a CMBS loan that was due to mature in late 2013.

The property includes 438 units on 26 acres facing West Oaks Plaza Dr. near Richmond Ave. Limestone was originally developed by Fairfield Residential in the late 1990s.

According to LYND, the property fits in with its strategy of pursuing value-add properties, and this one is especially attractive because of its location near the job-rich Energy Corridor. The company plans to capitalize on the improvements that have already been made with further upgrades, including modernizing unit interiors and enhancing common-area amenities.

Greater Houston is one of the nation’s hot apartment markets. The expansion of energy and healthcare, two key components in the region’s economy, has created jobs, and there are more to come. Investment specialist Marcus & Millichap predicts that 95,600 new jobs will be added this year. Apartment vacancy rates dropped from 8.5 percent to 7.2 percent during 2012, and Marcus & Millichap forecasts another 30-basis point drop in vacancies this year.