MLG Capital Buys 2,700-Unit Sunbelt Portfolio

Oklahoma City. Image courtesy of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber

Real estate investment manager MLG Capital has acquired a Class B multifamily portfolio totaling roughly 2,700 units across three cities in Texas and Oklahoma, marking the industry’s latest bet on the booming Sunbelt region.

The portfolio spans 10 communities located in Houston; Tulsa, Okla.; and Oklahoma City, Okla. MLG subsidiary Valiant Residential, which currently manages more than 14,000 units nationwide, will operate and manage the portfolio, according to a statement. The company declined to identify the properties, citing confidentiality.

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The portfolio was acquired by a set of diversified private equity real estate funds and a co-investment entity, all managed by MLG Capital. Ryan Mueller, MLG’s vice president of acquisitions, cited population growth, a strong corporate presence with low unemployment, and high marks for livability as characteristics of the properties’ locations. Market occupancy in Houston, Oklahoma City and Tulsa is around 93, 94 and 94 percent, respectively.

MLF has also been active in Florida in the second half of this year. The company acquired Park Avenue at Santa Fe, a recently completed 298-unit community in Gainesville, Fla., for $56 million in October, according to Yardi Matrix. In July, MLG purchased Turnbury at Countryside, a 350-unit community in Clearwater, Fla., from McKinley Inc. for $39.1 million.

Sunny Outlook

MLG’s most recent purchase adds to a series of multifamily portfolio deals in the Sunbelt this year, as the region stretching across the Southeast and Southwest U.S. leads the country in population and rent growth.

Canada’s Tricon Capital Group notched one of the biggest such investments when the real estate firm acquired a 23-property, 7,289-unit portfolio from Starlight Group’s US Multi-Family (No. 5) Core Fund in April. The $1.4 billion transaction involved a collection of properties with an average vintage of 2012, primarily located in Sunbelt markets.

Earlier this month, multifamily owner and operator Fairstead paid $160 million to acquire a 16-property, 1,568-unit portfolio mainly located in the Sunbelt from The Hampstead Cos. The deal marked the first acquisition for the firm’s newly launched investment vehicle aimed at affordable housing properties.

FriedLam Partners in November snapped up an 895-unit apartment portfolio comprising six properties in Charlotte, N.C., for $77.5 million in an off-market deal.

And at the start of 2019, The Walden Group picked up an apartment portfolio spread across six Southern states for $106.7 million. Varden Capital Properties sold the 18-asset, 1,858-unit portfolio.